Woo, another chapter! :D

So sorry for not updating, a lack of inspiration has been coupled with four tests in the course of two days. x-x But gladly that's over now and I'm destressing as the first quarter ends. Now on to the next one with midterms haha (I'm gonna die it's official homework will kill me) (actually it won't don't worry I'm not feeling suicidal and I shouldn't make fun of people who do it's a serious issue) (I'm a terrible person it's official :P )

I'm sorry to say this might be the last chapter for a while. I might have extra free time in the next week or so, but it's unlikely I'll be able to type up the next chapter. See, I'm going to go for NaNoWriMo again this year, and for those of you who may not know what that is, it's called National Novel Writing Month and it's when writers across the globe try to write 50,000 words in the month of November. I was a winner last year (aka I wrote 50,012 words) and I hope to do the same this year. Unfortunately, as I will be writing a story other than this one (as it's actually almost over, I outlined the rest of the story and it will be exactly 17 chapters long, this is chapter 13) I won't have any free time to spend writing this.

I did, however, notice that this story has, in fact, gotten over 100 reviews! Thank you all SO much, I couldn't have done it without such amazing support! :D I will be doing a "special" as I have done for Misty Peace's prequels in the form of a drawing I will post to my DeviantArt around Halloween. If you don't know how to get to my DeviantArt, use this link and take out the spaces:

snowfall16. deviantart. com

Happy early Halloween everyone!

So I typed up the replies the morning after the rest of this, when my cat woke me up at 4:30 in the morning, so sorry if they're kinda... yeah. Less than average. XD

Leopardstar2002: Yeah, he is... But Mossystar's kinda self-centered herself too. I had fun writing this chapter, it's full of Mossy's biased opinions. XD

Queen Eradrin: Sorry it took so long! I hope you like it, though Sootstar's being more of a poop unfortunately. :(

QLKwriter: I have fans... Man, until you said that it was kind of in the background, but now it seems I'll have to wrap my mind around that. o-o Hope my fans aren't disappointed by how little material I'm getting out though. I'm sorry about your grandfather! Hopefully you won't fall over backwards too much with your books, I remember my middle school being just like that. I'd have three huge textbooks to take to class every day. I'm happy to say high school teachers are a little more conscious about not giving you textbooks to take into class every day, they more assign homework out of them and do other stuff in class. Or at least mine do. ^^;

ShadowHawk540: Yeah, Cinderstar's falling for Foxtooth. ^^; Oh well. I think Mossystar falling in the river would be pretty funny though, even if she is RiverClan.

Nightbird1648: Thank you! :) That means a lot, especially with the several months in between each upload...

Cindercloud of ThunderClan: Thanks a bunch! :) I really appreciate it! I tried to make my writing interesting this chapter, tell me how I did?

Wolf Shadows: I don't mind if you can't review, just make sure you don't get in trouble, okay? I've still got a few chapters left and at least one piece of Misty art, but if you don't have time to give me feedback it's okay. School comes first, sadly...

ilovewarriorcats: I'm actually really used to listening to other people's problems. In real life I'm a listener, not a speaker, so I'm the person my friends come to if they need to rant. I don't mind. :) And my AP classes are actually okay, as long as I spend time every night getting some homework done. I just had a weekend-long field trip for a class, which really put me behind. And don't worry, you honestly don't sound so inconsiderate to me. TalkFictions sounds strange and I'll definitely keep my eyes open for that. Not sure if I'll check it out myself because of viruses and stuff but I'll definitely put notices up when I have the time. Thanks for letting me know! :)

Mossystar's POV

I glowered at Sootstar, tail bushed up like a cattail. "Why did you come across early?" I growled. "Half my Clan still needs to cross!"

"Well if you hadn't cut in front of us maybe I'd be a little more generous!" Sootstar retorted. Behind us, cats streamed down from the Tree-Bridge, all reeking of ThunderClan musk. Sootstar glanced along the bridge, counting off his cats. "There, see, your cats are beginning to cross now," he said pretentiously. "That didn't take much time."

I scowled at him but with a flick of his tail, he was gone, pushing through the underbrush to the Gathering clearing.

Gah. Why did he have to be so self-centered all the time? I wasn't self-centered! None of the other leaders were! Why did Sootstar have to be so… annoying?

Flattening my ears in irritation, I turned to watch the rest of RiverClan cross the Tree-Bridge. Once we had all (finally) gathered on the island shore, I lifted my tail and led the way into the clearing, where all four other Clans had already gathered.

Not surprisingly, Rockstar, Rainstar, Cinderstar, and Sootstar were already sitting up in the Great Tree. Embarrassed by my apparent tardiness, I bounded quickly through the crowd and clawed my way up the trunk, settling on the lowest branch. Above me, Sootstar stood to begin the Gathering.

"Now that we are all here—" I lashed my tail at the thinly veiled insult "—it is time to get to business. I believe we all know why this Gathering was called, but just in case I am mistaken I will explain. Early this morning, we all woke to find the scents of other Clans draped over our territories like frost."

A general rumble of suspicion filled the clearing. I glanced down and was startled to notice the five Clans sitting in distinct locations, refraining from the usual mingling with buffers of air between them.

Sootstar continued, "We do not know who did this, but we do know there must be a culprit. There must be a reason."

Again, mutters filled the clearing. But no cat seemed willing to speak louder, to raise their voice above the others. Sootstar, seeming to notice this, clicked his tongue impatiently. "Oh, come now, you can't all know nothing. Speak, someone, and let us know who the culprits are."

Rainstar rose to his paws above me, staring hard at his brother. "We do not know if the ones responsible were Clan cats," he meowed in a reasonable tone, though I couldn't help but notice his claws gripping the tree limb rather tighter than normal. "It could have been StarClan or the Dark Forest."

"Ghosts cannot leave scents." Sootstar brushed off Rainstar's point like a spider off his flank. "It must have been a group of living cats."

"But there must have been a great number of cats to cover all five territories, even if they are smaller than usual," Rockstar pointed out. "There's no way a group of that number could have escaped the awareness of all five Clans."

"That's exactly my point," Sootstar hissed. "Someone here knows something. They just don't want to speak."

An uneasy silence followed his words. I watched nervously as the cats in the clearing stared suspiciously around, not only at the other Clans, but also at their own Clanmates. Could Sootstar's words drive us apart so easily?

"Badgertongue." I surprised myself with speech. Taking a deep breath, I continued, "You were on guard last night. Did you see any suspicious movement?"

The black and white she-cat blinked, looking startled to be called on. "No," she replied, her loud voice carrying easily over the snow-silent clearing. "I didn't see anything." She shrugged. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "It's fine. I wasn't expecting anything anyway, the clearest other-Clan scents lay mainly by the river." Glancing up at the other four leaders, I invited them to continue my pattern of interrogation.

Cinderstar stood on her branch, staring down at her Clan. "Tanglefur," she called down. "Sparrowtalon, Twigpaw. You were on the nighttime hunting patrol; did you see anything? And how about you, Mistheart? You guarded the entrance, did you not?"

The ShadowClan cats shifted in the snow, glancing at one another and shaking their heads. "I don't believe so, Cinderstar," Sparrowtalon replied. "No, not that I saw," Mistheart echoed.

"Tansyfoot?" Rainstar chimed in, "anything?"

"Streamfrost?"

"Bouncefire?"

All cats replied the same; no, they had not seen anything out of the ordinary during the night. According to them, the night was all silent, with nothing moving except the wind and clouds.

I lashed my tail. Fox dung.

"Are you sure StarClan and the Dark Forest can't leave scents?" Cinderstar asked Sootstar uncertainly.

"Yes," he snapped, now looking severely irritated. I wondered what was chewing on his tail. He paced back and forth, his weight sending his branch swaying wildly as though caught in a storm wind. As I watched, the last shriveled, dirt-brown leaf finally snapped off the branch, drifting down to land on the untouched snow below.

"Very well," he growled. "Very… well." He sucked in a deep breath, most likely giving himself a brain freeze, and glared around at the Clans. "War," he announced. "That's it. If you are too cowardly to admit you've been spying on ThunderClan, then fine. But that's the only conclusion I can think of."

An uproar greeted his words, drowning out his last sentence. Cats all over the clearing leaped to their feet, yowling abuse at Sootstar. Somehow, though, he managed to be heard above the tumult. "I smelled no ThunderClan scent on your territories!" he screeched. "If war is what you want, then a war you'll have! Tomorrow at sunhigh, it begins." He bounded down the Great Tree, beckoning to his Clanmates.

Just before they disappeared through the trees, Sootstar paused and turned to face us. "Any alliances you make, confirm them tonight. Tomorrow it will be every Clan for themselves."

I sat stunned on my branch as the other leaders slowly descended the tree, gathering their Clans together. Had Sootstar gone mad? A war was the absolute last thing the Clans needed in the middle of Leafbare!

But my keen, fish-hunting eyes spotted Rockstar's black pelt through the mass of multicolored pelts, awakening my leader's instincts. I needed to solidify my alliances tonight? Very well. Tomorrow we would fight, but Rockstar and I would stand together. Perhaps it would prevent some unnecessary bloodshed.

Leaping down from the tree, I slipped through the crowd like a river otter until I reached his side. "Rockstar, may I speak with you?"

He turned. "Certainly. What about?"

I took a deep breath. "Tomorrow. The battle. Will you stand with RiverClan?"

Rockstar snorted. "Do you really think the Clans want a battle? I think Sootstar got a little over the top tonight, but tomorrow he'll surely see sense again. If we don't turn up we can let him save his pride and prevent injury."

I snorted. "Did you see those ThunderClan cats? Not one of them protested his ruling. They could have easily added their voices to the protests without fear of being singled out as treasonous, but not one of them did. They looked like they actually supported Sootstar. Believe me, ThunderClan will start this battle.

"You will be his first target. You and Cinderstar, and she'll obviously refuse to fight him, so he'll turn to you. You'll fight back and if Cinderstar and Rainstar see you attacking their brother, they'll come to his aid. Believe me, you want my help."

Rockstar opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed it again. Finally, he meowed, "Fine. Yes, I will stand with you tomorrow." He grimaced, turning back to his Clan. "If you're right, then it looks like I'll need it."

Oh man, a battle. And Sootstar's sinking deeper and deeper...

Next chapter is his POV so hopefully I'll be able to include some explanations, but I might forget to go into detail so... I'll try to get Chapter 14 done soon but I should probably be working on homework instead as I won't have as much time to do it in November. Yeah, I know, homework is taking over my life, but I won last year and I'd love to do the same this year. I've fallen in love with my idea 3

Yeah, I know I said I'd be discontinuing QOTDs, but I have a good one this time. ^^

QOTD: Are any of you doing NaNoWriMo? Or do you want to but don't have enough time/inspiration?