Ffff...this is long over-due. ^^;; Anyway, it's taken me a bit to figure out how to get all of the characters together in order to get to the actual plot without wasting three hundred thousand words. xD

Okay, so, I have officially decided that the story will take place...

~After Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony, and before The Time Paradox. The events of the Time Paradox will not happen, although I might incorporate certain events/characters from the latest book, The Atlantis Complex. I'm not sure about this, but if I do I'll add a spoiler warning to any potential chapters.

~In the summer preceding Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but the story will probably take place in Hogwarts, too, during the school year. ^_^ ...hang on, I just realized that in the prologue, Bellatrix Lestrange is there, along with Voldemort...damn. I'll have to work in some sort of explanation for that in the story, because Bella didn't escape Azkaban until the next book, and Voldemort wasn't his entire self until the end of The Goblet of Fire.

~After Warriors: The Power of Three: Sunrise. This takes place in the gap between the next series, so Dovepaw and Ivypaw do not play a major role.

~Sometime during Jaina and Jacen Solo's teenage years... if you don't know who they are, then...well, if you haven't already, I would read some books that take place after the Star Wars movies. I would start with the 'Thrawn' trilogy by Timothy Zahn. The first one is called Star Wars: The Heir to the Empire. Or, if you don't feel like reading an amazing book, or any of the other SW books, search 'Jaina Solo' on Wookiepedia and read her page. It'll spoil a ton of fantastic books for you, though.

Figuring out where all the characters would be in their respective series was...difficult, to say the least. For example, I needed Artemis to be the same age as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, so I had to decide which timeframe to use. I wanted to have the story take place around The Order of the Phoenix, but that wouldn't work with Artemis's books. T^T Piecing in the Star Wars and Warriors characters was much, much easier, so I'm happy.

Okay, here it goes...

It had been a stressful day.

What an understatement.

In the space of a few moments, Jayfeather's home had been ransacked by a mob of humans in shiny white armor, he had been knocked out after one of the humans had pointed a strange looking stick at him–-a beam of red light shot out of it which made him sting all over, and had woken in the confines of a damp, dark cage that shook and bumped at irregular intervals (apparently it was a human invention called a 'truck'). And perhaps worst of all, his only companions was Firestar, and the most annoying cat in the Clan, Berrynose. Now, Jayfeather, being blind, hadn't actually seen all of this. He had asked Berrynose, and naturally he had told him the entire story with as few stammers as he possibly could given the circumstance. After overcoming his shock, the skinny grey tabby decided to get started on attempting to plan with his still shellshocked companions.

"So...what do we do now?" he asked, shifting uncomfortably on the hard wire that made the floor of the cage.

"I dunno." Berrynose said, staring glumly at the corner of the enclosure. This was a nightmare. He had been planning to take a nice, lovely nap after bossing the apprentices around, and then he was going to devote a good half an hour to grooming his creamy fur...such a pity things hadn't worked out...

"I wasn't asking you, Berrynose. Firestar, what do you think?"

The ginger tabby gave no reply. Jayfeather heard Firestar's tail swish along the ground once, a sigh, and then silence.

"Firestar...?"

"..."

Fine then... Jayfeather thought irritably, annoyed that he seemed to be the only one in this situation who might be able to do something. Of course it had to be up to him. And of course it had nothing to do with being involved in a stupid prophesy that he had initially wanted nothing to do with. See, Jayfeather and his two siblings, Lionblaze and Hollyleaf, were connected to this prophesy that promised the 'kin of Firestar's kin' the 'power of the stars' because they were Firestar's grandchildren. So far, the only thing that seemed different was that Lionblaze appeared to be invincible in battle, and Jayfeather could walk in other cat's dreams. Hollyleaf, apparently, didn't have a power. At least, she hadn't discovered it yet. She had died in a tunnel collapse, or appeared to–-Jayfeather is blind, remember? He didn't see her die, he had only heard the rocks and dirt fall-–so she had never had an opportunity to discover it.

Regardless, Jayfeather had to find a way out and to the rest of the Clan. "Hey," he mewed, poking Berrynose with a paw. "What's the condition of the cage?"

"I dunno. Dirty?"

Idiot... "No, I mean, are there any holes or loose bars?"

There was a small shuffling noise as Berrynose moved a little closer to the cage. Jayfeather heard him sniff loudly. "Ick, it's like all grimy! If I touch it my fur will never get clean. Do I have to touch it to see if it's broken?"

Jayfeather unsheathed and sheathed his claws a few times in order to stop himself from lashing out. "No..." he half-snarled, half-growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, that's so much better! 'Kay, so no, it's very solid looking. I don't think that I can break it, and I'm like the strongest cat in-–"

"–-Good for you! Now, can you...what's that noise?"

Something grumbled slightly. Then there was a screeching sound, and the entire cage tipped slightly to one side, sliding all three tomcats to the wall of the cage. A moment later, it righted itself, and slammed back down on the floor. There were several other noises like this from outside the cage, and some were accompanied by feline snarls and yowls.

"The rest of the Clan! They're here!" it was the first time Firestar had spoken, and his voice held an undercurrent of relief. Jayfeather heard the leader stand on his paws with excitement. "I just heard Mousefur swearing, and Ferncloud said to be quiet because there are kits in the area! They're alive!"

"Ugh, I was, like, just slammed against the cage!"

Jayfeather ignored Berrynose, his ears pricked in towards where the voices had come from. It was a little odd-–they hadn't heard anything before, and now there wasn't a sound to be heard. "Firestar, why do you think that they didn't say anything earlier?"

"I'm not sure...it's rather worrying, too. Do you know who we've been captured by? I was knocked out when this twoleg shot a red beam at me."

"I was shot too, so I don't know."

"My fur's all gross! It's going to take me like forever fix my fur!"

Jayfeather felt like slamming his head against the cage. Had Berrynose always been this shallow, or was it some sort of post-traumatic stress? Either way, it was more annoying than-–what was that? Jayfeather could have sworn that he heard a set of pawsteps approaching...but perhaps it was just him. Or not. Firestar and Berrynose hissed in surprise and shock as something rushed over their heads. Someone began to laugh a deep, menacing laugh, which broke off into a fit of coughs, ruining any mysterious appearance they wished to achieve.

"Tigerstar!" Firestar screeched, his mind reeling as he stared open mouthed at his long dead nemesis, who had appeared as the dingy sheet that had been covering the cage been thrown off. The dark brown and black tabby didn't look dead; quite the contrary. He seemed just as solid and arrogant as he had ever been while living. Even the smug grin on his face was exactly the same. Behind Firestar, Berrynose blinked in surprise. What had his leader just said? The name sounded familiar...the cream colored tom's memory ran backwards, searching every nursery tale he had ever heard. Unfortunately for him, Berrynose had never paid much attention to the stories that Daisy-–his mother-–had told him, and so had no idea that the cat standing on the other side of the cage was a murderer, former dictator, and a very evil character. Jayfeather, however, was completely confused. All he had experienced was the rushing noise, Firestar's cry of 'Tigerstar!', and the laughing/coughing fit. Quite mind boggling.

"Why so surprised, Firestar?" Tigerstar said smugly, completely at ease with the ginger tom's reaction. "Thought that letting Scourge kill me off would be the end of me?"

"But-–how-–why did this...I don't understand..."

"Of course you don't. Now, I thought that ThunderClanners had good manners?"

Berrynose and Firestar stared at Tigerstar blankly, while Jayfeather bared his teeth, almost at the end of his rope. What's going on? he thought.

"You know," mewed Tigerstar, leaning forwards and peering curiously at the three, as though examining exotic creatures in a zoological park. "The concept of introductions? I'm Tigerstar, soon to be sub-ruler of the galaxy? Something like that...?"

Everything fell into place for Jayfeather. Somehow, Tigerstar had managed to invade the living realm, instead of the dark forest in which he had inhabited as a sort of afterlife. This is great, just great...

"I-I'm Berrynose," randomly stammered the cream colored tom, his fur fluffed out and his docked tail shaking nervously. "And I-I'm like not the ruler and uh, uhm, my fur is filthy!"

Tigerstar blinked his gold eyes. "Okay then..." he said, a little taken aback in spite of himself. "And what about you? Oh wait, I know you. You're Jayfeather, the medicine cat of ThunderClan."

"Look, just tell us what you want or are trying to do." Firestar was almost begging now. "If you want revenge, just kill me now, right here. Just let the others go..."

"Aw, wittle bitty kitty Fwirestar is acting all noble! How sweet!" mockingly cooed Tigerstar, failing to hear the sound of footsteps approaching. Jayfeather however, had, and was straining his ears to see if he could get some hint as to who the newcomer was. It was obvious that they weren't feline; human, perhaps? The tabby pressed his face to the bars of the cage and sneered mockingly at the three cats. "Maybe Fwirestarry would want to see his wittle family alive? Is that what bitty-"

There was the sound of a human voice, and all four cats craned their heads up to see the new arrival. It was a human boy with hair the precise shade of blonde as Berrynose's fur. The human said something, and all of the cats in the cage wished they knew what he was saying. Tigerstar, however, seemed to have no trouble at all in understanding him.

"Yes, these are some of the most important prisoners..." he said, unaware of the stunned faces of the hostages.

The human said something else, gesticulating at the cage.

"Oh, Darth Vader wishes to speak with the leader?" The human nodded. Tigerstar shook his head. "No, sorry, can't do that. I'm under the instructions of the Dark Lord not to let them out of my sight...what did you just say? Oh, yes, I suppose the one cat does have the same color as your head-fur-–I mean hair... Hey, wait, what are you doing? No, don't do that! It's the lock, if you open it-–"

Tigerstar thrust himself in the way of the human's hand, which was reaching towards the lock of the cage. The boy made a face, and pushed him away, then fumbled with the lock for a moment. As he spun the dial, he said something else to Tigerstar, who looked as though he was about to rake his claws down the human's face.

"No!" he snapped, trying to weave around the boy to get in front of the lock again. "No! Draco, this is not a petting zoo! You can't just go and-–"

Click! The lock opened. Firestar, remembering his days as a house cat, pushed both Jayfeather and Berrynose towards the door of the cage. "Run!" he whispered, and the force of both of their momentum pushed the door forwards, making them spill out into the dark interior of the cage. Draco staggered back in surprise, accidentally knocking another cage to the floor. As the cats within the fallen cage screeched in alarm, distracting both Tigerstar and Draco, Berrynose streaked towards a beam of light, certain that it was an exit. Jayfeather followed his scent, not really wanting to trust the arrogant warrior, but not wanting to be left behind.

Berrynose, however arrogant and annoying he may have been, definitely had a good sense of intuition; the light that he had raced to was actually a small crack in the back door of the truck. Cats, because they lack collar bones, can fit through any hole that is large enough for their head to pass through. It was tight squeeze, but because of this handy little fact about feline anatomy, both cats were out in seconds. That is, out and falling face-first towards asphalt...

Berrynose screamed: notgoodnotgoodnotgoodnotgoodnotgood! was his chosen mantra for this moment in his thoughts.

Jayfeather was confused for a moment, and then heard Berrynose's scream and felt the air rushing past him and realized what was happening. He tried to force himself to go limp, in order to absorb the impact, but his muscles would not obey him...and he crashed into the pavement, stars exploded in his mind's eye as everything went dark.

But the darkness was only for a moment. Almost instantly, Jayfeather was in the center of a starlit clearing. This was StarClan's realm; the place where all Clancats found themselves after they passed away. Now, StarClan is an interesting bunch. They send messages about the future to the medicine cats (the healers), the leaders, and occasionally some random cat who's been marked out for greatness and heartache. However, medicine cats have the privilege of being able to see them in person, and Jayfeather assumed that was what was happening. That is, if he hadn't died...

"Jayfeather..."

A thousand rippling voices echoed in his ears as he wheeled around, startled. There was no one skulking about in the edges of the forest (this is the one place where he can see, aside from his dreams), and he couldn't scent anyone.

This is...new. he thought, bemused.

Normally, a cat came up to him and spoke directly to him. Perhaps they wanted to try a more mystical approach?

"Jayfeather...times of great suffering and sorrow are growing ever closer...you will encounter circumstances that were never contemplated by any of the Clans before...and there will be three, three with–"

"Oh please...don't tell me, there will be three who 'hold the power of the stars in their paws'?" groaned Jayfeather. "This is all too cliched already, with the voices and the weird lighting in this place. Tell me something that I don't know."

"You arrogant kit, listen. Yes, there are three with the power of the stars, but there are another three; the first of whom is the one who will help you in your journey to the Manor."

"...the 'Manor'? What?"

"It will all become clear in time...seek out the one with crooked legs..."

"Crooked legs? This is just getting ridiculous."

"Then leave."

Everything seemed to explode in a bright flash of light, and then it was dark. Jayfeather could feel the harsh material of the road beneath him, and the afternoon sun beat down on him. He heard a muffled sniff and long fur shifting on the ground. He was back in reality.

"J-jayfeather?"

Berrynose was quite frightened. He had no idea that the exit was one that led straight to the ground, and he was extraordinarily worried about Jayfeather, who hadn't moved since they fell. Fortunately for him, Jayfeather was alive, but unfortunetly, there was something was slowly coming their way. It looked like a car.

"Jayfeather! Wake up! We like, need to get out of the way! Like right now!"

Jayfeather was suddenly lifted by the scruff of his neck and hauled over a few feet to his left as something rushed past, fluffing his grey fur and making him tremble. He lifted himself up on shaking forelegs, listening to the roar of the car fade. Berrynose was next to him, panting heavily.

"W-why," he gasped between breaths. "Why didn't you like move? That car could have crushed you!"

"I couldn't move!" This was partially a lie; Jayfeather's legs and flank were bruised, and he had possibly fractured his hind-leg in the fall. However, he could have moved, and was on the verge of doing so before Berrynose had done so for him.

"...okay." it was plausible. I mean, thought Berrynose, looking at the shivering grey tabby that was crouched a pace away from him. He looks pretty miserable.

"We need to get traveling," mewed Jayfeather. Apparently, there was some 'Manor' place he needed to get to. It wouldn't be too hard, if he knew where he was and knew what a Manor was. He stood up, grimacing as bolts of needle-sharp pain shot through his body.

"Hey! You can move!" shrieked Berrynose, his mouth hanging open. "You like, lied to me!"

"Oh, be quiet...there are more important things to discuss." Jayfeather brushed away Berrynose's exclamation while he hesitantly tested his weight on his hind-leg. "Do you know what a 'Manor' is?"

"...no."

"...thought so. Okay, well, we need to find one."

"Why?"

"StarClan told me so," explained Jayfeather, aware of what a pathetic explanation this was. "Alright, so...can you tell me where we are? As in, what the surrounding area looks like?"

Berrynose looked around, studying the area around them. He hadn't paid much attention to the details, although given the circumstance, it wasn't such a terrible thing. "Well...we're like on a road."

"Besides that. I mean, what does it look like? I know that we're on a road, I can feel it under my paws."

"Okay...on the left side of the road, there is a huge field. It's kinda like the one that WindClan lives in, but it's like really, really green, not a gold-brown color." Now that he had noticed it, all of the plant life in this place was a gorgeous emerald green. He felt bad for Jayfeather. "And there's some stone walls in the middle of the field, but they're crumbling, so they're not really walls, right?"

"Go on," said Jayfeather, trying to picture the scene.

"There's a huge hill ahead of us, so I can't really see what's in front of us besides the road, the left and right side, and the sky. So, the right side is like, almost the same. There are some trees there, some bushes, like in ThunderClan, but there's a river cutting through it, and there are like a lot of rocks in the water. Oh, and I can see some heather there, too! It's very pretty, a pinkish purple."

This was...somewhat useful. Jayfeather thought that Berrynose wasn't describing the scene in it's entirety, but it would do. The cream colored warrior would definitely have mentioned any human structures, or any signs that other cats inhabited this area: that was the important stuff. Finding that his leg was able to manage without an immense amount of pain, Jayfeather took a step forwards. He blinked. The road was vibrating somewhat, and he could hear a faint noise...

"Jayfeather, there's another car!" Berrynose swung around to face the oncoming trouble. He could see a small car driving down the asphalt. It wasn't too far away, but he wanted to get out of the way before it came. He glanced at Jayfeather, who's sightless blue eyes were wide with apprehension. "Come on, like, let's get to the edge of the road..."

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm completely disoriented and I don't know where the 'edge of the road' is!" snapped Jayfeather. "I can't see, you fool!"

Sighing, Berrynose padded towards him and stood close enough to the medicine cat so that their sides were brushing. "Come on, just walk whenever I walk..." he would have used his tail to guide Jayfeather, but seeing that his was accidentally docked by a fox trap...

Hearing the car growing closer, Berrynose almost started to run towards the edge, but restrained himself just in time, remembering Jayfeather. Together, they walked (or in Jayfeather's case, limped) to the edge, just as the car came puttering towards them. Surprisingly, the car exuded a huge amount of fumes, then suddenly, fell silent and still. The two cats froze as they heard a voice emit from the car, a human voice. The tan car shook slightly, and opened on three sides. Berrynose's breath caught in his throat as a human male stepped out of one side, along with a female. However, through another exit, a fluffy ginger cat streaked out. The cat, however, was followed by a younger human female, one with distinctive bushy brown hair. She bent down to stroke the cat, who purred loudly and arched his back in response.

"Come on, like, let's get out of here before the humans see us..." muttered Berrynose in Jayfeather's ear. Jayfeather shook his head in response. There was something about that cat...

Berrynose growled softly, irritated. He didn't know why Jayfeather wanted to stay here, in partial sight of the humans, but he certainly couldn't leave without the medicine cat...

The humans exchanged some words, none of which either cats could understand easily, and then the male opened the front part of the car. He jerked back a few feet as a billow of grey smoke rushed out of the car. The other two humans rushed over to the first, seeming to ask if he was okay. As the male nodded in response, the fluffy cat's ears pricked, and looked in Berrynose and Jayfeather's direction. His gold eyes met Berrynose's amber ones, and then the cat raised his tail in greeting before trotting over to them.

"'Ello," he purred, coming closer.

"Hey," mewed Jayfeather warily, trying to stand up without putting more weight on his leg, which was definitely fractured.

"What happened to the lot of you?" mewed the cat, sitting down on the side of the road in front of Berrynose. His round eyes flicked across the two cats, taking in their scruffy appearance.

"Eh, nothing...we like just fell onto the road pretty hard." The stranger didn't believe the excuse; Berrynose could tell by the skeptical look that flickered across his broad face for an instance.

"...I see. Oh, I just realize that I've forgotten to introduce myself. I'm Crookshanks."

Crookshanks...Jayfeather mused over the name for a second in his mind. It felt...important. At least, at the moment. "I'm Jayfeather," he mewed. "And this is Berrynose."

Crookshanks nodded in acknowledgment. "Are you injured badly? Well, of course you are, Jayfeather, I can see how much your leg is paining you."

"I guess so...I was planning to make a splint once I found the materials."

"...hm, I don't think that that's the best idea. It will take a bit to find the right supplies, and you'll just injure your leg even more if you keep straining it. I'll get my guardian, the youngest human over there. Her name is Hermione, and she knows magic; she should be able to help you." Crookshanks stood up, and mewed loudly. Jayfeather's eyes widened as he heard the approaching footsteps of the human.

"Let's go!" Berrynose began to slink into the field, feeling jittery as the human came closer. He saw Crookshanks shake his head disapprovingly as Jayfeather tried to stand all the way up, but sunk back to the ground with a hiss of pain and frustration.

Hermione bent down to look at Jayfeather closely, who was cringing on the ground, his blind eyes as wide as saucers. The poor cat, he was frightened out of his mind! And he looked as though he had been tossed out of a speeding car onto the road. She thought that there was something wrong with his leg, too, as it was bent at a really odd angle.

"Mum!" she called over her shoulder, slowly reaching out a hand to pet the thin grey tabby. He shrunk back, baring his sharp little teeth and growling menacingly. She retracted her hand quickly, biting her lip. The cat definitely wasn't used to people touching him...perhaps he was feral?

"She's not going to hurt you, don't be scared." mewed Crookshanks soothingly, looking up at Hermione. She gasped slightly, and said something in the strange human language which he did not fully understand yet. When Crookshanks had helped in his tries for revenge, Padfoot (known to humans as Sirius) had begun to teach him, but his lessons had been cut short when the Animagus was sent into exile. "Just let her pet you, then her mother won't be worried about taking you in..."

"I don't want to become a housecat!"

"You don't want to become crippled when you could easily get fixed, right?"

"...no..."

"Then try to act friendly, or just scared and not at all vicious, at the least."

Jayfeather nodded, flicking his ears back as he heard the footsteps of yet another human approaching. The newcomer inhaled in surprise, and then began to talk with the younger human, Hermione or whatever Crookshanks had called her. They exchanged a few words, and then, he felt the air move as something swooped down towards him. With a small shriek of panic, he tried to move himself backwards.

"It's just her sweater, calm down!" Crookshanks had weaved himself around the humans to crouch next to Jayfeather. "They're just going to hold you in it, and bring you to the car to see what they can do for you!"

Out in the tall grass, Berrynose was watching the scene unfold. The two humans had scooped Jayfeather up in a red and gold sweater, and were carrying him to their car...oh no, this wasn't good! They were kidnapping him! And now Berrynose would never see him again, and it would be all his fault, and–

–Wait, they weren't taking him to the car. They walked to the male, who said something, gesturing at the steaming car. Berrynose had the feeling that the car wasn't going anywhere for the moment...and neither was Jayfeather...

"So, you don't know what's wrong with it, Dad?" said Hermione, shifting her arms slightly as the cat squirmed in the sweater.

Her dad shook his head, sighing. "No idea. It's not going anywhere, though. There isn't a town for a few miles, though...Heather, is your cell–"

"No, my cell-phone ran out of charge a while ago." Hermione's mother said.

"Well...I guess that we're just going to have to walk up the road and see if there are any houses nearby. Maybe we'll be able to find someone who can help us. If no one's there...we're just going to have to take the suitcases and walk back a few miles. Hermione, do you want to come with me?"

The prospects of having to leave the car and walk all the way back to the small town did not thrill Hermione. She didn't enjoy long walks on a good day, but walking three, four miles while dragging over-packed suitcases was even worse. And besides, Crookshanks might get lost, as he had a tendency to wander off by himself for long periods of time. Still...she knew that sitting here by the car doing nothing would drive her insane.

"Alright."

...okay, I hate the ending to this. T_T Ah well...the next chapter will introduce the rest of the major players in the story, and then we get started on the actual plot. :D

Also, if you've read Warriors you might've noticed that I skipped a lot of the terminology (ei, the cats call the 'twolegs' humans). This is mostly because I'm just too lazy to explain it all~