A/N

Not much to say in this author note, read on!

Chapter 4: Lost Bearings

It was a long, bumpy journey. Several times Skypaw's tiny den bounced in the air, startling her.

"Skypaw, are you there?"

Skypaw recognized her mentor's deep voice. "Lionshadow?" She squeaked softly.

"If there are any clan cats here, speak now!" Lionshadow howled.

There was a silence. An exhausted voice spoke. "H-here… I'm RiverClan."

"What's your name?" Lionshadow asked. It was clear the RiverClan tom was young.

"...Puddlepaw," he sighed.

"Puddlepaw, is there anyone else here?" Lionshadow asked.

"Um, there's a crow in the den next to me…" he trailed off. "No other clan cats, though."

"That-that WindClan apprentice…" Skypaw muttered. "And the ThunderClan medicine cat… They must have gotten taken too."

"If they're not here, where are they?" Puddlepaw wondered.

His question didn't get answer, because there was a loud squawk and the sound of fluttering wings. Skypaw saw the crow leap out of the little den.

"He got out!" Lionshadow exclaimed.

"Wait, wait!" Skypaw gasped, sticking a paw out of one of the holes. "Let us out! We promise not to eat you!"

The crow hopped towards her and tilted his head. It was a long shot he could even understand her, but she was told crows were smart.

"What does Trinket get in return?" The crow squawked,, ruffling his wings.

"Trinket? Is that your name?" Skypaw asked, surprised but relieved he understood.

The bird flapped his wings. "Yes, he is Trinket. What will you give him if he frees you?"

Skypaw faltered. "Uh- um-" she could see Trinket losing interest. "Oh, oh! Shiny things! Lots of shiny things!"

"Trinket loves shiny things!" He exclaimed, and hopped forward towards the hard, silver vines. He pecked at it, when suddenly it swung open. He moved on to Lionshadow's den, and then Puddlepaw's.

"Rrraaw!" Trinket crowed. "Trinket did it!"

"Good job, friend," Lionshadow rumbled.

"I think we should stay in the dens," Puddlepaw suggested.

"What? Why!" Skypaw scoffed.

"Well, they'll just capture us again if they see we're free," he pointed out. "I think we should stay in the dens and surprise them when they open the wall again."

"It's called a door," Lionshadow said.

"Okay… when they open the door," Puddlepaw corrected himself.

The three of them went back in their cramped dens for an indefinite amount of time. Finally, the door swung open and sunlight spilled in. Trinket flew out in the faces of the Twolegs.

"Trinket is free!" He squawked happily. They took this distraction as their chance to race out. With Lionshadow leading the way, Skypaw and Puddlepaw jumped out of the monster and across the hard ground.

"Quick, to the forest!" Lionshadow gasped, jumping towards the shrubbery. They could see Twolegs dens on either side, aside from this small strip of trees and plants.

The three of them crouched in the grass, out of sight from the Twolegs, who gave up looking for them rather quickly.

"Where are we?" Puddlepaw whispered.

"I'm not sure…" Lionshadow muttered. "This isn't the Twoleg place where I was from…"

"Do you think the other clan cats that got taken are here?" Skypaw asked.

"Probably somewhere," Lionshadow agreed. "C'mon, the coast is clear."

They hesitantly walked out of the grass, following the large tom's lead. "We need to locate the informant of this area. There's always a cat who knows all the comings and goings of a territory."

They walked along the fences of the Twoleg dens, jumping from fence to fence. Skypaw and Puddlepaw found it easy, but Lionshadow struggled a bit with his large frame.

"I smell a cat," Skypaw said. She sniffed the air a few times. "Over here." She jumped off the fence and into a dim alleyway. It smelled like rotting prey, but under that, she could smell another cat.

There was a scrappy, grey tom on top of a green and black structure, digging through it. "Hey, you!" Skypaw hissed. The tom looked up, and scrambled down.

Lionshadow caught and pinned him down. "You're going to tell us who knows how to get out of here, or else." He unsheathed his claws.

The tom squirmed. "I don' want no trouble! Just lemme go!" Lionshadow slowly released him.

He scooted a bit away from them and groomed a paw. "The name's Mange."

"Don't care," Skypaw growled.

Mange looked offended. He sighed. "The cat you're lookin' for is actually two. A brother and sister. Lance and Muffin. They live five houses down from here. If ya wanna know somethin' ya go to them."

"Thank you," Puddlepaw said quickly.

"Didn' have much a choice," Mange huffed. "Now, if that's all, I'm gonna get some lunch." He jumped back up on the foul-smelling structure and jumped inside. They could hear him scrambling around inside.

"What is that?" Skypaw asked.

"It's a dumpster," Lionshadow said. "Twolegs throw things that have gone rotten in there."

"Gross," Puddlepaw groaned. Skypaw nodded her agreement.

"Mange said the two cats live five houses down, c'mon," Lionshadow said, leaving the dark alley. He walked down below on the ground while Skypaw and Puddlepaw jumped up on the fences of the houses.

They reached a nice looking beige one with lots of plants in front and a smaller door on a large door. "That's a cat door," Lionshadow noted. He jumped up, and all the way over the fence into the yard.

"Lance? Muffin?" Lionshadow called. "Muffin? Lance?"

"Who wants to know?" Came a smug voice from the other side of the fence. Skypaw and Puddlepaw saw a white and brown tom with blue eyes below them. He jumped up on the fence. "You're in my yard."

"We got taken by Twolegs from our home!" Puddlepaw cried. "We wanna get back, but we don't know how."

"Hm," Lance huffed. He jumped down onto the grass, and Skypaw and Puddlepaw followed. "I can help you. What are your names?"

"I am Lionshadow," he meowed. "And that's Skypaw and Puddlepaw."

"Strange names," Lance noted. "There's a new cat next door with names like yours."

"What's their name?" Skypaw asked quickly.

"I think she said it was… Olivepaw?" Lance answered. "But she's not very talkative."

"Olivepaw!" Puddlepaw gasped. "That's the WindClan apprentice that went missing!"

"Yes, WindClan," Lance said. "She said something about that."

Puddlepaw was already up on the shared fence between the two houses, calling Olivepaw's name. A brown and grey speckled she cat slipped out of the cat door after a while.

"Who's calling my name?" She hissed defensively. She spotted Puddlepaw up on the fence. She sniffed the air, and her green eyes grew wide. "You're RiverClan!"

"Yes! Come down here," Puddlepaw asked, and she leapt up onto the fence.

"You two are ShadowClan," Olivepaw said when she saw Lionshadow and Skypaw. They nodded.

"How long have you been here?" Skypaw asked her. Olivepaw joined them in the yard.

"A quarter-moon," she replied.

"Is there anyone else here?" Lionshadow asked.

"Not that I know of," Olivepaw said. "There's a tabby further down who doesn't smell like a rogue or kittypet, but whenever I try to talk to her, she runs back inside."

"That could be the missing medicine cat!" Skypaw exclaimed.

"You must be hungry," Lance chuckled. "Come inside and eat."

Lionshadow and Puddlepaw listened and followed him inside. Skypaw was more hesitant, but Olivepaw pushed her. "C'mon," she groaned. "You'll get used to it."

"Used to… what?" Skypaw asked. Olivepaw was already inside. She growled to herself and walked in. It was a lot to take in, so she stuck to following wherever Lance was leading them. A path let to a large den, with a plump she cat laying in a plush looking nest.

"I brought visitors, Muffin," Lance purred.

Skypaw noticed she was much more beautiful than her brother. She had a pristine creamy coat with brown splotches, cool blue eyes and a soft look.

"Welcome," Muffin purred. "How can we be of service?"

"We wanna go home!" Olivepaw interjected.

"Well, where did you live?" Muffin asked.

"That's the thing, we don't know," Skypaw muttered.

"We came here in a truck, when humans took us," Lionshadow explained.

"Oh, the catchers," Muffin lamented. "They go through the mountains a lot. Are you from there?"

"There are some mountains near us," Lionshadow said.

"You know, there were these two barn cats a very long time ago," Lance said. "Mama and Papa told us about them. One had a funny name like yours. Something-paw."

"He told my mama a story once, about cats with weird names who used to live here, but moved. They went over the mountains," Lance finished.

Puddlepaw's eyes went wide. "He's talking about when the clans found the lake territory!"

"So, you can help us?" Skypaw asked.

"I believe so," Muffin said.

Olivepaw let out a shriek of delight. "Yes!"

"Oh, but you'll have to wait," Muffin said sympathetically. "I can't travel." She looked down at her chubby belly. "It'll be too much strain."

"We can take you when she gives birth and the kits are strong enough to travel," Lance agreed.

"Bu-but, that'll be like four moons!" Olivepaw gasped. "I can't stand it here!"

"Patience, Olivepaw," Lionshadow warned her. "In that time, I can mentor you and Skypaw. If you can learn to hunt here, hunting back in the forest will be easy."

Olivepaw groaned loudly, but it was clear she was subdued. Skypaw felt numb. Four moons. Four moons until they can go home. Four. Moons.

"I'm sorry," Skypaw said quietly, and ducked outside. She leapt up onto the fence and stared out into the woods. To the bare eye, they looked nice, but Skypaw knew they used to hold a beautiful world, one where her ancestors thrived.

"Skypaw, isn't it?" Came Muffin's voice.

"What do you want?" Skypaw sighed.

"Nothing," Muffin said. "Are you okay?"

Skypaw jumped down from the fence next to Muffin. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," Muffin said.

"You can't tell anyone," Skypaw insisted.

"I won't," Muffin promised.

"I… I think I like she-cats. There's this she cat back home," Skypaw confessed. "She's really strong and cool, and I wanna see her again. I can't wait four moons, or she's going to fall in love with Minnowflash!"

Muffin let out a little giggle. "I understand. I like she cats too."

Skypaw gawked. "B-but you're-"

"Expecting?" Muffin guessed. "I like toms too, you know."

"You can do that?" Skypaw gasped. "Uh, where's your mate, then?"

"His name was Jacks," Muffins said. "He left me. He didn't want kits."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Skypaw mumbled. "If it helps, if I was your mate, I'd never leave you."

Muffin purred. "You're cute," she giggled. Skypaw blushed a little.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here. Skypaw followed Muffin back inside.

"You okay?" Lionshadow asked.

"I will be," Skypaw sighed.

"Good," Lionshadow said. "I thought now might be a good time to go hunting. You're bound to be hungry."

"If you're going to hunt," Lance began. "I suggest avoiding the rats. They'll make you sick."

"There are birds and squirrels by the pond!" Muffin called out.

"Not our usual food source, but we'll manage," Lionshadow nodded. Skypaw gagged at the thought of eating squirrels like ThunderClanners.

"I don't do good with a lot of trees," Olivepaw whined. "I like open spaces…"

Lionshadow crouched in front of her. "We're all out of our comfort zone here," he meowed softly. "Besides, when we get home, you can impress all your clanmates. I bet they can't hunt in the forest."

Olivepaw giggled a bit. "It would make Sharpsnow mad to see me do something he can't." She thought for a moment. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Good, we're going now," Lionshadow chuckled. "Puddlepaw, it'll do you good to come with. Even medicine cats can hunt to some degree."

Puddlepaw mumbled something under his breath. "Fine," he sighed, trudging behind the two she cat apprentices.

Lionshadow followed the scent of water, and into the small woodland where the little pond was. "Okay, hunker down," he ordered. They all crouched.

"Tell me what you smell," Lionshadow asked.

"Sparrow," Skypaw answered instantly.

"I think I smell lapwing," Olivepaw gasped joyously.

"Um, squirrel?" Puddlepaw said hesitantly.

"Yes, but it's stale," Skypaw added. "There's mouse somewhere, too."

"Show me your hunting crouches for mice," Lionshadow ordered. The three of them dropped to the ground. Olivepaw's was the best out of all three of them, as she had been an apprentice for a moon more than them. Skypaw's was adequate, but her stance was unsteady and her tail was too low. Puddlepaw's was the poorest, wobbly and unsure of himself.

"Hmm…" Lionshadow thought. He spent a bit of time fixing Skypaw and Puddlepaw's stances and showing them the correct way to stalk their prey, before he gave out instructions.

"Since Olivepaw is accustomed to the moors, I'll stick with her here," Lionshadow said. "Skypaw, you take Puddlepaw to the other side."

Skypaw nodded and the two of them leapt off into the undergrowth. Puddlepaw hung low, tail brushing the grass dejectedly. Skypaw paused. "Are you sad?" She asked bluntly. "I'm not very good at reading emotion."

Puddlepaw sighed. "I'm a medicine apprentice for a reason, Skypaw. I'm small, so I'm not very good at fighting or hunting. Which I'm okay with! I like medicine, not hunting or fighting."

"You don't have to be good, you just gotta be able to feed yourself," Skypaw said. "We'll find you the lamest mouse in this tiny forest and it will be no match for you, no matter how bad you are."

Puddlepaw chuckled a little. "Thanks, Skypaw."

"And look," she meowed. "There's that little rodent right there." She kept low to the tall undergrowth and had her violet eyes fixed on a fat little mouse nibbling on a blackberry.

"Here I go," Puddlepaw sighed. He kept his paws light, which was easy considering how lightweight he was for a RiverClanner. He slid his paws across the ground, careful not to alert the mouse.

A chirp from a bird in the distance startled the mouse, and it took off towards the Twoleg dens. Puddlepaw swore and sprinted after it. Skypaw spotted a squirrel dart out from the same blackberry bush in alarm, and she quickly nabbed it. Not how she imagined her first catch, but it was something nonetheless.

Picking up the squirrel in her jaws, Skypaw raced after Puddlepaw. When she caught up to him, he was sitting in front of a fence with the dead mouse at his paws.

"What's wrong?" Skypaw asked, dropping the squirrel.

There was a small, brown tabby she cat sitting in the yard. Puddlepaw was staring through the worn out holes in the fence. He jumped up onto the fence, and heard the she cat softly crying.

Puddlepaw tilted his head.

"Leafwind?"

A/N

Oof, this chapter felt a little slow… Hopefully it starts to feel like it's picking up soon.