*Sigh* Would anyone care to review I feel so alone and unknowing.

Chapter 3: The Gathering

Hawkpaw blinked when he entered the clearing with the huge tree in the middle. The light seemed to change when Thunderclan arrived. Hawkpaw looked up to see that though there were numerous clouds in the sky they all seemed to make a wide circle around the full moon. Hawkpaw padded toward the gathering tree looking for Darkpaw or Lightpaw but instead he found himself almost running into the ShadowClan apprentice that he had met when Hawkpaw crossed their border.

"Well look at that it's the cat that crossed into Shadowclan." The ShadowClan apprentice said with a slight laugh to it.

Hawkpaw shrugged. "Sorry about that I was watching where I was going."

"Well try better next time." He meowed.

Just then a Riverclan apprentice popped up out of nowhere.

"Hey guess what I saw today." She said with excitement.

The Shadowclan apprentice was taken a back at her sudden appearance. Hawkpaw was also surprised by the cats' sudden appearance but was not as fazed and he answered first.

"What did you see?" Hawkpaw asked.

"Well I was in a hunting patrol and when I was creeping up on a vole there was another cat that I didn't know that was standing only a couple fox-lengths from me. I told Toadpelt and Rainpool that there was a rogue cat in our territory but just when we were about to chase it off it disappeared!" The Riverclan cat said that all in rapid fire speed.

Hawkpaw was astounded. "I saw a rogue cat to today!"

The Riverclan cat beamed. "Well isn't that just the strangest thing. My name's Emberpaw by the way, nice to meet you both."

"Umm…Beechpaw." The ShadowClan cat replied.

"I'm Hawkpaw. It's nice to meet you to." Hawkpaw said more politely.

Before Hawkpaw could ask what they thought of the rogue cats a voice interrupted him from behind.

"Sorry but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation."

Hawkpaw turned to see a very pretty Windclan she-cat watching the other apprentices timidly.

"Hi I'm Brightpaw and I also saw a rogue cat on WindClan territory." She meowed shyly.

Beechpaw raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

The Windclan cat stepped closer to the other apprentices. "Yes, it was a she-cat all white with amber eyes and she smelled terrible." She wrinkled her nose as if remembering the smell.

There was an awkward silence as the apprentices looked at each other all pondering the same silent question. What does this mean? Their thoughts were interrupted by a yowl from the tree that stood in the middle of the clearing. Greenstar, leader of WindClan had yowled to announce the beginning of the Gathering.

"Greetings to you all," He said "Let the gathering begin."

Greenstar leaned back and Eaglestar started with the ThunderClan announcements.

"Prey is running well in Thunderclan, as it always does in newleaf. We have some new apprentices with us today their names are Lightpaw, Darkpaw and Hawkpaw."

Eaglestar had to pause as the island shook with the yells of "Lightpaw, Darkpaw, Hawkpaw!" Hawkpaw twitched his ears in embarrassment and he saw that Lightpaw and Darkpaw were looking equally embarrassed by the sudden attention.

When the noise finally calmed down Eaglestar continued.

"Also a rogue cat was sighted in Thunderclan territory but we couldn't find it and it may have crossed into another clan's territory, I would be on the look out just in case."

"It's a good thing we aren't you Eaglestar." Thornstar meowed curtly.

A couple of Hawkpaw's clanmates had their fur fluffed out. Eaglestar ignored Thornstar and nodded his head at Wavestar, the leader of Riverclan, to begin.

"All is well in Riverclan and the prey is swimming fine. However, a rogue cat was also spotted in Riverclan territory." She stepped back obviously having nothing more to say.

Greenstar stepped foreword next. "The same goes for Windclan, all is well except for the sighting of a rogue in our territory." Greenstar stepped back.

Thornstar stepped up looking menacing as usual. "We have a new apprentice among us today. His name is Beechpaw."

Calls of "Beechpaw! Beechpaw!" rang across the clearing except for the half-hearted calls from the Thunderclan cats. Beechpaw looked down and started licking his fur in embarrassment.

"Also!" Thornstar's call came up loud and harsh. "ShadowClan has also encountered one rogue on our territory. Besides the rogue, Hawkpaw decided that it would be fun to walk around in Shadowclan territory."

There was a silence as all eyes turned on Hawkpaw. For all he cared a badger could have come and swallowed him right there on the spot. Suddenly a call came up from Yellowfur who was sitting far in the back.

"That's a lie it was just an accide-" Yellowfur cut himself off as a cloud passed over the moon."

There were shouts and some screams from everywhere. The cloud passed but cats were still shaken up. Thornstar took advantage of the situation.

"See Starclan agrees with me the apprentice must be punished!" Thornstar yelled.

"He will be Thornstar. You need not worry." Eaglestar growled.

Another cloud passed and then another. The cats around him were looking worried. For the first time Hawkpaw noticed the huge wall of cloud that was coming towards the gathering. Others seemed to have noticed to as numerous gasps rang out across the clearing. The wall of cloud was drawing nearer and nearer to the full moon.

"Great Starclan what is happening?" Whispered Brightpaw.

Hawkpaw didn't reply he only stared as the moon was completely covered by the huge mass of storm clouds. Instantly the clearing was covered in absolute darkness. There weren't even stars to even bring a faint glow to the clearing. There were screams all around him and people rushing this way and that trying to find their way out of the clearing. A loud scratching noise was heard some where way of to Hawkpaw's right.

"Silence!" Screamed a harsh voice.

The noise took time to quiet down. When it did people were confused.

"Where is the way out of here." Someone yelled.

"Silence!" yelled the voice again.

"Who are you?" He heard Greenstar ask.

The voice chuckled. "You don't need to know my name all you need to do is one thing for me."

There was more silence.

"What in Starclan's name are you talking about?" yelled a voice next to him.

"I'M TALKING ABOUT THE ONE, THE ONE WHO HAS THE SAME POWER AS ME!!" The voice screeched.

There was absolute silence throughout the clearing.

"Listen we don't know what you're talking about, name yourself." Eaglestar meowed.

There was a pause.

"My name is Doom. You all will be killed tonight if you don't give me what I want."

"YEA!" shouted Beechpaw. "How are you going to do that?"

A cold laugh erupted from Doom. "You are a poor pathetic fool don't you get it you're surrounded."

There was murmuring all along the clearing now. Hawkpaw felt tremendously cold all of a sudden. Then there were the rake of claws against stone.

"Deathclan kill them all!"

The next chapter is going to be the most epic one so far. So yea go freak out in celebration set a town on fire for all I care. ^_^U