A/N: Hi everyone. In The Fall of the Four, it takes place after Sunrise, but I've changed some things. Whitewing and Birchfall are mates, but they have no kits—meaning Dovepaw and Ivypaw do not exist. Also, as school has started, the length of time between updates may become longer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors.

Chapter 3

Tigerpaw stood outside the leader's den and listened to Blackstar, Littlecloud, and Flamepaw talking about Firestar's death. He wished he had gone to that Gathering. Ever since that fateful night, nobody paid any attention to him. It was all, "Go do this, Tigerpaw" or "We're busy, Tigerpaw" or even "Go away, Tigerpaw." The apprentice wished he could do something.

Suddenly, he had an idea! He could… yes, that could work… then he would do that…. And be the hero! It was better than being pushed around. First stop, the apprentice's den.

"Dawnpaw," he whispered to his sister. "Are you in here?" There was no reply. Tigerpaw let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and saw the den was empty. He crept outside again, and saw his sister coming into the camp with her mentor, Ivytail. She was carrying a frog, which she deposited on the fresh-kill pile. Tigerpaw scurried over to her.

"Dawnpaw, I need to tell you something," he meowed.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Um, I'll tell you in the apprentice's den. It's kind of private." The two apprentices went there, and spent some time talking about it.

When they finished, Dawnpaw agreed that this was the best idea ever!

"How should we do it?" she asked her brother.

"Well, we need help, of course. We can't possibly do this on our on."

"Alright, we'll ask the other apprentices from our Clan. And at the next Gathering, we'll ask the apprentices from other Clans to help us!"

Tigerpaw nodded. "Be on your best behavior, so our mentors will have to let us go."

Dawnpaw purred. Tigerpaw had the best ideas ever!

A month quickly passed. Soon, Tigerpaw and Dawnpaw were walking side by side, nearing the tree-bridge. Dawnpaw looked worried.

"What are you worried about, Dawnpaw?" asked Tigerpaw.

His sister looked at him. "What if the other apprentices refuse to help us? What if they tell the warriors about your plan?"

"I don't think they will. The plan is as important to them as it is to us," replied Tigerpaw, as he gracefully leaped onto the tree-trunk. Dawnpaw followed.

"Who should we ask first?" she asked.

"I don't know. Let's find Scorchpaw and Olivepaw first." They had also agreed to help with Tigerpaw's plan.

Dawnpaw quickly disappeared, then came back with the two ShadowClan apprentices in tow.

"Alright," Tigerpaw mewed. "We need a name for this." He looked around. "Suggestions?"

"Operation Apprentice Discovery!" suggested Scorchpaw.

"Team S.O.S. Apprentices!" Olivepaw added.

"How about "The Rise of the Apprentices?" Tigerpaw asked. "Dawnpaw, you decide."

"I thought of a name too!" she answered. "Operation: Apprentices Unite!"

"Yeah! That sounds good!" Scorchpaw exclaimed.

"That's our name, then!" Tigerpaw mewed. "Let's go find the other apprentices!"

"How about this," Dawnpaw suggested. "We each separate and recruit three apprentices for this.

"Okay," Tigerpaw agreed, and slipped away. Olivepaw and Scorchpaw each went their separate ways, and Dawnpaw headed towards a large group of RiverClan apprentices.

Tigerpaw crept through the bushes, and found four WindClan apprentices chatting to Owlpaw, a fellow ShadowClan apprentices.

Perfect! Four cats, just what I need! I only need three, but I'll get four anyway, Tigerpaw thought. He padded out of his cover and dipped his head to the WindClan cats. "Hi, Thistlepaw, Sedgepaw, Swallowpaw, and Sunpaw. I need to talk to you about-"

Owlpaw interrupted aggressively. "Is this about the plan you told me about? If it is, there's no point in telling these four. No one's going to help! The only reason that I'm not telling the warriors about your mouse-brained plan is because you're a fellow apprentice!" He stalked off.

Thistlepaw looked at Tigerpaw with wide eyes. "What do you want?" he asked.

"It's not as bad as Owlpaw says. Um, it's about Firestar's death. We have a plan to find out who did it. Do you want to help us?"

"Okay," they volunteered hesitantly.

"Good," approved Tigerpaw. "Our plan is called Operation: Apprentices Unite, and currently, it is made up of you four, me, Dawnpaw, Olivepaw, and Scorchpaw. The other three are off recruiting. So come with me."

The four WindClan cats followed Tigerpaw as he looked for the other three members of group. Suddenly, he realized that they had been at the Gathering for a long time, but it still hasn't started yet. Why? he wondered. Glancing around, he saw Dawnpaw, Olivepaw, and Scorchpaw talking together, along with twelve recruited cats.

"There you are, Tigerpaw! We've been waiting for you forever!" Dawnpaw exclaimed. "Okay, now everyone say your name one at a time, so we know how many members we have."

"Dawnpaw."

"Tigerpaw."

"Olivepaw."

"Scorchpaw."

"Thistlepaw."

"Sedgepaw."

"Swallowpaw."

"Sunpaw."

"Rosepaw."

"Toadpaw."

"Copperpaw."

"Robinpaw."

"Sneezepaw."

"Nettlepaw."

"Mallowpaw."

"Pebblepaw."

Dawnpaw's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Sixteen members! Now Tigerpaw will fully explain Operation: Apprentices Unite!"

"Okay. This is how it's going to work…" he began. "Wait. Has anyone noticed that the moon is halfway down the sky, but the Gathering has not started yet? What's wrong?"

"We'll investigate after you tell us about the plan, Tigerpaw," Toadpaw meowed.

Tigerpaw explained, but as he was doing so, he kept thinking about the oddness of this Gathering.

When he was finished, Sedgepaw padded up to a WindClan warrior standing around, and asked, "Why hasn't the Gathering started yet?"

The warrior, Harespring, stared down at her in surprise and grief. "You don't know? Onestar, our loyal leader, has just been poisoned, and is dead. He died the same way as Firestar."

"WHAT?" exclaimed all the apprentices in unison. This new knowledge made their task more important then ever. They needed to find out who, or even what, had murdered two important Clan leaders.