"Wake up. Wake up!" Waterpaw was dreaming. She was in a meadow, batting at little dandelion puffs. But a very annoying bunny was nudging her and hissing in her ear. "Wake up!"
Waterpaw's eyes opened. It was not a bunny, but Gingerpaw who was shaking her. Sitting up, she noticed Tulippaw was also awake.
"This had better be pretty important, because you just woke me from a great dream," she snarled.
"It is important!" Gingerpaw flicked her tail. "I have a plan that will rid us of those kittypets and make us warriors!"
"Really?" Tulippaw questioned suspiciously.
"Yes!" mewed Gingerpaw, unable to contain her excitement. "Here's what we need to do. We need to find those kittypets' den, sneak in-"Gingerpaw was cut off by Tulippaw's cry of protest.
"Sneak into a Twoleg nest?! Are you out of your-"
"Shhh!" Gingerpaw slapped her tail over Tulippaw's mouth. "Be quiet! We can't wake the other warriors!"
"We can't just sneak out of camp! That's against the rules!" Tulippaw hissed.
"I don't care!" spat Gingerpaw. "We have to do this! We just have to get inside the den, find the kittypets, and demand that they stay out of our territory."
"So… you think that they'll just stay out of the woods if we ask them to?" questioned Waterpaw.
"They probably will," replied Gingerpaw. "From what I've heard, they're not really dangerous; they just don't realize what they're doing. If we make them see reason, they'll stop."
"But what if they don't see reason?" asked Tulippaw.
"Then we'll threaten them. We'll tell them that we have a right to defend our territory and that we'll shred them if they set paw on it again," answered Gingerpaw.
"And what if that doesn't work?" prompted Waterpaw. Gingerpaw flicked her ears. She hadn't thought that far ahead.
"It'll work," she insisted. "They won't go looking for a fight. If they wanted a fight, they would have gotten one a long time ago. All we have to do is make our point clear to them. We're wasting time. Let's go."
Tulippaw and Waterpaw exchanged unsteady glances, and then Waterpaw stepped forward.
"Well, what have we got to lose? I'm all for it," she said. Tulippaw sighed.
"Well, if you two are going, I guess that means I'll have to come too." And with that, the three ran off into the woods, their noses and ears on alert for any night patrols.
It just so happens, to the apprentices' misfortune, that while they were sneaking off, Skyclaw was returning from the dirtplace tunnel. She was sniffing around for some flowers, as the dirtplace tunnel stunk, and she needed something to wash the putrid scent out of her nose. But what she smelled wasn't flowers. It was the scent of cat. Familiar cats. Her ears pricked. The apprentices! What were they doing? Apprentices weren't allowed out of camp without a mentor. She followed their trail until she found them. They were huddled under a birch tree, whispering among themselves.
"Which way is Twolegplace?" hissed Gingerpaw.
"I think it's that way," mewed Tulippaw, pointing with her tail.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" spat Waterpaw. Skyclaw flinched, horrified. Why were they going to Twolegplace? Her mind whirled. What should she do? Confront them? Run back to camp to get help? She could do that. The camp wasn't that far away. Just as the apprentices were running off, Skyclaw backed into some bracken and headed towards camp. Blindly stumbling through the entrance, she screeched an alarm.
"The apprentices! They've snuck off! They're gone!" With every cat fully awake, Sunstar came out of her den.
"What in the name of Starclan is going on?" she demanded. Skyclaw panted and tried to explain.
"The apprentices- dirtplace tunnel- Twolegplace-"
"Slow down Skyclaw," Cloverpelt said calmly. "We can't understand what you're trying to say." Skyclaw caught her breath.
"I was coming back from the dirtplace tunnel, and I saw the apprentices out of their nests. I overheard them saying something about going to Twolegplace," she panted.
"Why didn't you just confront them?" questioned Vixenstep.
"I wanted to, but I didn't know if they would listen," Skyclaw mewed guiltily.
"It's alright, you've done nothing wrong," said Rosepetal.
"We're wasting time!" snapped Sunstar. "The longer we wait here, the farther away from camp the apprentices are getting!" Turning to Skyclaw, she mewed "Skyclaw, stay here with Moonshine, Snowfang, and Cloverpelt to guard the camp. The rest of us will go find the apprentices." So with no more time to spare, they left.