(Ok so, in this chapter the clans prepare for Cherry and her group, and the countdown commences.)

Leafpool was worried when Jayfeather suddenly dropped down unconscious while walking to his den. It made the whole clan turn up in chaos. Her son stayed unconscious until the start of sundown, where he quickly opened his eyes, gasping for breath as though he had been running for his life. When she asked him what was wrong he snapped at her and stalked away from the den and out to the middle of the clan. Bramblestar had quickly padded over to him, not minding that the news was shared openly to the clan now. Everyone knew and would take part in it anyway. When Jayfeather explain his dream to them there was a mixture of disbelief and horror. One of the cats almost died. It made the clan finally believe the truth to Leafpool and Jayfeather's words.

The next day Bramblestar started issuing groups when the Windclan cats entered their camp. Five Windclan cats were chosen; Antpelt, Owlwhisker, Leaftail, Weaselfur and Crowfeather. Lionblaze's first reaction when he saw Crowfeather was shock, then a sneer. Jayfeather wrinkled his nose when he smelled the Windclan warriors enter the camp, muttering about something not heard by the other cats. Bramblestar had been working with Dustpelt, Briarlight, Ivypool and Dovewing on the new den for the new coming cats when they walked in, led by Cloudtail and followed by Sandstorm and Daisy. The Queen insisted on going with them after she heard they were coming over, ignoring Graystripe's warnings and pleas to stay.

"Welcome to Thunderclan," Bramblestar mewed, dipping his head shortly to each of them. They returned the gesture, keeping wary eyes on the cats around them. Leafpool exited the warriors den, stretching her body and claws as she did so. With the final shake of her tail she rose, licking her paw and rubbing it over her face. She padded over to Bramblestar with her tail high, eagerness coursing through her.

"When do we start?"

Bramblestar gave her an amused look, sighing and shaking his head. "Whenever Jayfeather and you are ready. You might need to take a break or two, Leafpool. We have a whole week. It's not much time, but you don't need to work yourself out over it."

"I'm not that old yet Bramblestar," Leafpool snapped. Squirrelflight chuckled as she padded over to her sister. "She sure isn't."

"Whoa! Mom is those Windclan cats?!"

"They sure are big!"

"I'm going to beat you one day!"

Bramblestar barely contained his yowl of surprise. "Squirrelflight, what are they doing out of the nursery?!" He looked at his three kits, frowning and moving Flamekit back with his paw. The small she kit stood with her tail high in front of Crowfeather, who only stared down at her in amusement.

"She is certainly small for a kit, Bramblestar," Owlwhisker mewed snidely. Crowfeather chuckled, tilting his head as he stared still at the kit. It interested him that she had so much defiance in her eyes. "Do you think she will be big enough to even make a warrior?"

"Of course she will. After all, Lionblaze was that same size when he was a kit, and look how he turned out to be."

Things suddenly grew quiet after the remark, the two toms staring each other down. Leafpool quickly looked between the two, amused and worried. Jayfeather passed between them, picking the kit up with his mouth and ignoring her squeaks of protest. "She won't be that big if she refuses to eat properly. I swear she is the most stubborn kit in any cat's life."

That seemed to break the tension, because Sandstorm chuckled as she padded over and picked up Sunkit, who was bigger than the other two. "Oh no, Jayfeather, Squirrelflight was the most stubborn kit of a cat's life."

"Hey!" Squirrelflight mewed indignantly, snatching up Gingerkit as the small tom squeaked. "I was not!" She followed them to the nursery, flicking her tail when she felt Bramblestar staring back at her.

Bramblestar himself chuckled. "She was very stubborn," Leafpool sighed, shaking her pelt. "That's my sister for you." She turned to the five Windclan warriors. "I take it you ate before you left your clan, because we are starting our training right away." Leafpool mewed seriously. Leaftail snorted, narrowing his eyes.

"Of course we did. Why are we training anyway? All we are the runners right?"

Jayfeather walked over, scowling at the she cat. "Yes, but what if you get caught? You need to know the proper defenses in case you do. These cats aren't ordinary cats like us, they are big."

"And you know how to beat them?" Weaselfur hissed.

Jayfeather flicked an ear and trotted towards the entrance. With a swish of his tail through the brambles he was gone. Leafpool called on Bumblestripe, Icecloud, Hazeltail, Cinderheart and Brackenfur and with them she led out of the camp, the Windclan cats close behind.

~ooo~

By sunset the cats returned, dragging their tail, ears drooped in exhaustion, five of them had prey clamped tightly in their jaws. Jayfeather padded towards the medicine cat den and disappeared, only to reappear with herbs in his mouth as he padded towards the nursery. Leafpool lead the tired cats to fresh kill pile, two Thunderclan cats dropping their kills there while the other three took theirs to the nursery. Bumblestripe picked up a thrush and took it to Purdy. Leafpool picked up a mole and lied down, eating silently and slowly. Her ear flickering was the only indication that she noticed Bramblestar's presence. "You look like you fought a badger," he mewed in amusement. Leafpool gave an annoyed grunt.

"Training ten cats at once, I feel like it. Can I be a medicine cat for a few days?"

"No you can't Leafpool, sorry." A wistful sigh left her lungs. "Oh well."

"Leafpool, isn't there something you have to tell Bramblestar?"

Leafpool groaned as Jayfeather padded over to her, dropping her head beside her prey. "Can't it wait?"

"Not unless you want to put the clan in danger."

"There is no danger coming from this, Jayfeather," Leafpool huffed and closed her eyes, then slowly rose from her food.

"There is no need to go to my den. The clan needs everything that's going on now,' Bramblestar mewed, sitting down and wrapping his tail around his paws comfortably. Leafpool nodded once, looking back at Jayfeather with a half angry half tired glare.

"Whitethunder and his patrol have discovered Cherry's first resting place and are now heading in our direction. They will be here quicker than we anticipated, which is in our greatest favor."

"Leafpool..."

"Hush Jayfeather, I'm not done." Jayfeather growled lowly. He didn't take kindly to being hushed and toyed with the idea to argue with her. 'She's lucky she's bone tired,' Jayfeather growled in his mind. "Whitethunder is, regretful for some reason. I can feel it, just as Flameblood and Killerfang said I would."

"And why do you think they will be to us sooner than you think," Bramblestar questioned. By now the whole clan had gathered to hear what the ginger she cat had to say. Leafpool opened her mouth widely in a yawn and flicked her tail tiredly.

"Well because the patrol is going to be captured by Twolegs."

A gasp of horror went through the clan. Ivypool's fur bristled as her eyes widened. "How is that in our favor?! No cat in the clutches of Twolegs should be a bad thing unless they're kittypets!"

"Hush, Ivypool. Didn't I say I wasn't finished?!" Leafpool hissed in annoyance. "They will of course escape, because the place the Twolegs are taking them is a quarter moons and some day's journey from here. At the longest they will be here two or three days after Cherry and her group arrives."

"Not in time to help us with these cats, but it will do," Bramblestar muttered. "Anything else left to report?" Leafpool blinked slowly, tired eyes deep in thought.

"Yes. A very large group of cats are coming our way right now."

"The foreign clans are on the move," Jayfeather concluded. Squirrelflight's kits were the only sounds they heard as the clan fell into a silence. Lionblaze padded over to Leafpool and nudged her towards her unfinished prey, which she ate with little eagerness. "So it finally begins."

Bramblestar dipped his head. "So it does. At the next gathering we will tell the clans. Until then we will prepare and enjoy what we can. It will take them at least three moons to get here and another three to five to settle their differences. That is a rough estimate."

"What we need to worry about now is these cats coming our way in a few days. It is more important," Crowfeather mewed, exhaustion filling his voice. "Bramblestar, where do we sleep?"

"The apprentice den," he answered back. "As you can see, we have no apprentices at the moment, so it is free."

Owlwhisker grumbled about it, but in the end he and the other Windclan warriors filed into the apprentice den and instantly fell asleep. Lionblaze led Leafpool to her moss bed in the warriors den and watched as she flopped down and close her eyes. He only needed to count to ten before her breath evened out and she was gone with the wind. Tired, he took to his own nest and closed his eyes, briefly glancing at Cinderheart before he did. With his eyes closed and his breath evened out, his dreamed of chasing prey and small orange kits running around his paws.