The badger was huge. It was certainly giving the three warriors and the two BloodClan kits trouble.

"Look out!" Hollykit squeaked, ducking into the den in fright.

"Oakheart!" she wailed.

The badger had whipped around and now held the WindClan warrior between it's jaws. He was hissing as clawing the best he could. Chain and Rose both raked their claws down the monster's face, forcing it to release the warrior. He was limping now, but he still fought determinedly.

Eventually, the badger, dripping scarlet drops, fled. Oakheart was wounded, Rose was cleaning a nick in Chain's ear, and Silverpelt was collecting herbs to work on the wounds with. "I told Cinderpelt... She told me a bunch of herbs and things to use in case of emergency." she confessed.

"That's okay Mommy! You knew it was best!" she squeaked.

"Thank you, Starkit, but remember it could have jeopardized our escape. Luckily Cinderpelt was so nice." her mother answered, licking her ears.

"Sweet! Can you teach me? I wanna be a medicine cat... I mean, I have dreams with starry cats, and weeks before we ran, I knew we would!" Cometkit admitted.

"The kit was born to be..." purred Jasmine-claw. "I'm proud, Silverpelt. You should set to work teaching him what you know!"

"You mean those weird cats that talk to the stars? That's what he's gonna be?" Chain snorted in distaste.

"Those 'weird cats' have the ability to save lives and, in a way, tell the future. They can also grant a leader nine lives. Are they that weird?" Blazekit asked indignantly, whipping his head back and forth, trying to find the BloodClan kit.

"Nine lives? Sweet!" Rose purred.

They managed to sleep the rest of the night in peace. Jasmine-claw kept them warm be curling her body around them the best she could, Oakheart slept fitfully in front of the den mouth, and Silverpelt kept watch the rest of the night.

Next day, they woke up and ate. Blazekit nursed for a minute. Oakheart and Silverpelt had managed to catch a large rabbit. It was very plump and tender, and there was actually enough for everyone.

After that, they set off. Starkit was especially excited. She'd never been outside the camp before, and this was really far from the camp!

There was a river they came too. In it were lots of fish, large and silver. They would jump out of the water from time to time, as if taunting their party. "I wish I knew how to fish..." Hollykit sighed from behind her.

"I know!" Velvetkit drooled.

"Pfft!"

Chain strutted over to the water and crouched down, watching the water. His paw rose, ready to strike...

There was a loud splash as something dove into the water. Chain recoiled from the water, hissing and spitting. He was soaked, so she and her siblings couldn't resist laughing. Rose mewed, licking her friend dry and glaring at them.

"Oh! Oh, wow, you should see your face, Chain! You look hilarious!" Velvetkit howled, rolling around on the ground.

"Shut up! It's not funny!" Rose ordered, coming up and cuffing her brother.

"Yeah... But he was just trying to catch a fish and he got soaked!" she snickered.

"Starkit! Cometkit, Hollykit, Velvetkit! All of you, behave yourselves!" Silverpelt ordered, cuffing them all.

A small, dusky head popped out of the water, holding a large fish in it's jaws. Brandy-colored eyes regarded them with distaste. "What the... is that an otter?" Jasmine-claw asked, confused.

The eyes were aflame now. "Hell, no!" it hissed.

The thing swam to the shore and dropped the fish. "I'm a kit! Is it that hard to tell?" the little cat hissed. "I'm ex-Clan cat!"

"Clan cat? You mean there're more Clans than the four we just left?" Cometkit asked curiously.

"Apparently. None of you smell familiar." The kit picked up her catch and swaggered into the forest. "Leafkit! I got food!"

"There's another? What's your name?" grunted Oakheart, shifting his weight on his paws.

"I'm Duskkit. My friend is Leafkit. We ran away because our Clans are always fighting!"

"Well, why don't you join us? We all ran away for the same reason!" Blazekit said uncertainly.

"We used to be in a tribe... not really a Clan..." Wynter said uncertainly.

"Our Clan was a Clan of loners and kitty-pets. Trivial people, never did anything but bully others!" Rose mewed, still licking Chain dry as he glowered at the new kit.

Starkit went up to Duskkit. "Hey, you're awfully small... How old are you?" she mewed curiously.

"I-I'm four moons! Why?" the kit floundered. "And Leafkit's only three... Why am I telling you this! Leafkit, get out here and eat!"

A pale, slender cat with dark red stripes and pretty blue eyes emerged from the bushes. Belly on the ground, he approached them slowly. "Wh-why don't we go with them... Predators rarely attack large groups..." he said shakily, obviously a little daunted by them.

She bounded up to him. "Hi! I'm Starkit! Nice to meet you!" she licked his cheek, and before Duskkit could object, she turned and licked hers too. "You should come with us!"

"Fine, whatever, we'll join you!" Duskkit huffed grouchily.

"Good. Well, we'd better eat and get a move on if we want to make progress before dark." Silverpelt said, squinting at the sun.

They got pretty far before dark. There were no accidents or predators. So that night it was pretty peaceful.

Next day, a distressed mewing drew Starkit's attention. "Hey, I just heard someone calling for help!" she cried. Without waiting, she bounded away from the river and into the woods.

"Help! Help! I'm stuck!" the small voice was wailing.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" she yelled. She writhed in and out of thorny bushes and eventually found the reason for all the commotion.

A tiny white kit was stuck in a tree, and a larger, wolf-like kit was circling around the tree. "Help! Heartkit's stuck!" he mewed, pointing into the branches.

"Good thing my mommy can climb trees!" Starkit said cheerfully, whirling around as Silverpelt came out of the bushes. "Mommy, she's stuck up there!"

"Our little group is gonna turn into a Clan all it's own at this rate!" Silverpelt sighed as she quickly went up the tree and retrieved the small kit. "There. That better?" she asked the little kit.

"Yes! Thank you! I'm Heartkit! This is Wolfkit!" the small white kit mewed. She had splashes of orange on her fur and shocking blue eyes. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but can we accompany you?"

"Yes!" Hollykit answered.

"Yes!" Starkit nodded.

"Sure!" her brothers mewed.

Wynter and Ryver both shrugged, the BloodClan members were silent, and the warriors shrugged too.

"Yay!" Heartkit squealed.

"Thanks!" Wolfkit grinned goofily.

"So, how did you even get stuck in the tree?" Starkit asked as they continued moving on.

"Well, we were just walking, when we saw these really big kits. They scared us, especially when they moved towards us. So we ran, and Heartkit bolted up a tree before she even registered that she was." Wolfkit answered.

"When you say big kits, do you mean like those three?" Hollykit had dropped back and was looking up ahead.

Three large kits were walking towards them. Two looked rough and mean. One of the two held a stick with claw-marks on it it their mouth. The third just looked embarrassed. As their group approached, the rough one without a stick laid back his ears and hissed.

"A-Are they going to attack?" Heartkit worried.