1. Book 2 Theme

**AvatarCat12: Welcome back, everyone! Welcome to Avatar Cat: The Last AirClan Cat Book 2: Spring! And as usual, my two friends Katara and Holly are here to help us out!**

**Aang: Hey, AvatarCat! It's gonna be great to commentate the series again!**

**Katara: And I hope you create season 3 soon. I can't wait to see it! (Snuggles with Aang)**

**AvatarCat12: Well, I'm working on it. (To the readers) Those of you wondering what that was about, Genki vanished, so I'm her temporary boyfriend. So let's say the disclaimer and preview for the entire Book 2 season.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last AirBender or Warrior Cats. Their true owners are Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter.**

**Preview: Avatar Cat Goldwing, now a warrior, and his friends continue their quest to save the world, this time looking for an EarthBending mentor. Meanwhile, with Bearclaw out of the way, they encounter a deadlier enemy, while a prophecy tells about FireClan's darkest hour in Clan history.**

**Publishing Date: February 26, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**Book 2 Theme**_

_Water, element of change._

_Earth, element of strength._

_Fire, element of passion._

_Air, element of freedom._

_Moons ago, the four Clans lived together in peace. But everything changed when FireClan attacked ruthlessly. And only the Avatar Cat, the master of all four Clans and their elements, could stop them. But he vanished when every cat needed him the most._

_It's been several moons since my brother and I have traveled with the Avatar Cat on his journey. We have fought in many battle and met many cats along the way. Some were friends, while others were our enemies, and we were their prey._

_Since I have become the Avatar Cat's mentor, I have taught him the art of WaterBending. He may lack discipline, you can say that, but his power is slowly getting stronger every day. But he still has to work hard at learning to Bend Earth and Fire so that he can challenge Darkstar, the leader of FireClan._

_Soon, we're now heading out toward the vast EarthClan territory. There, the Avatar Cat will learn from a great EarthBending mentor so that this cat can teach him..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: I hope everyone likes this so far! And I'll tell you all something. I will no longer display the disclaimer on every chapter. But I will say that I don't own a certain thing or if I made something up. So don't fret, everyone!**

**Katara: I'm not fretting. We'll be okay with it. (Snuggles against Aang)**

**Aang: (To the readers) Although I'm sure what'll happen at the end of this season. But don't worry, folks! We went all right in the end!**

**AvatarCat12: Plus, those who review the start of this story will receive virtual Avatar Cat mini statues right away. Whichever cat you'd like, ask right away. Flames will not be allowed on here; if you don't like this story, don't read it. Constructive criticism will be very welcome on here, but don't make it too harsh. And here's the preview for the first chapter of Book 2 called The Avatar Cat State.**

**Preview: ****Now that they have become warriors, Avatar Cat Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather travel to a nearby fortress to get help being escorted to MudClan. Meanwhile, Bearclaw and Irontail get a warm "welcome" from a childhood terror.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	2. The Avatar Cat State

**AvatarCat12: Well, here we are, everyone! This is the first episode of the remake of Avatar Cat Book 2: Spring! And this episode is called The Avatar Cat State.**

**Aang: I remember that incident. I can't still believe General Fong would put us through that kind of danger! And he even put Katara in danger!**

**Katara: (Hugs him) It's all right, Aang. I'm okay now. Besides, he won't even bother us anymore, since King Kuei demoted him.**

**Aang: Yeah...you're right. Anyways, can I say the disclaimer?**

**AvatarCat12: Sure.**

**Aang: Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: He owns neither series. Bryke and Erin Hunter do.**

**Summary: Now that they have become warriors, Avatar Cat Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather travel to a nearby fortress to get help being escorted to MudClan. Meanwhile, Bearclaw and Irontail get a warm "welcome" from a childhood terror.**

**Uploading Date: March 11, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_The Avatar Cat State_

_Avatar Cat Goldwing began running fast around the area of the Southern AirClan camp, looked around quickly, and dashed off again. He had no idea how he arrived there, as if an unknown force had dragged him here and he wanted to get away as fast as he can._ _He found a red drape and pulled it aside. The scene in the room shocked him; the ceiling collapsed and there was a cat that looked just like him with his back turned toward him and he knew who that was: this was himself when he was an apprentice named Goldpaw._

_The golden apprentice turned toward the golden warrior, his eyes and arrow markings glowing pure white with rage; this was when Goldwing discovered the skeleton of Goldenstripe, who died in battle. Goldpaw stalked towards Goldwing, who backed away and thought about leaving, but powerful winds started to surround the Avatar Cat of the past and present._

_Immediately, Goldwing crouched down to the ground and shielded himself from the wind. He looked behind him to see Silverpaw and Ashpaw, his two best cat friends, also shielding themselves from the wind. The past Goldpaw slammed both his front paws to the ground and a massive orb of bright light enveloped around all of them, but Goldwing was blasted backwards and he appeared suddenly in the FireClan Temple where he spoke with Avatar Cat Whitestorm, the Avatar Cat before him._

_As Goldwing grunted when he hit the ground, the door to the center of the FireClan Temple opened up and he saw another one of himself as an apprentice. This Goldpaw was growling, his eyes and arrows glowing pure white, as he shot a jet of flame out of his mouth at him. Then he threw the fire towards the floor, causing it to melt and Goldwing fell through the floor, howling with fear._

_Once again, he fell onto metal; this time, he had landed on a FireClan ship. Fear shot through him as he saw himself once again, this time combined with one of the spirit salmon approaching the ship. Goldwing saw many FireClan cats run forward and leap at the spirit. But the glowing Goldpaw made a signal with his paw and the giant water spirit slammed its massive paw down onto the cats, cruelly hurting or killing them as blood flooded on the ship. After seeing the ocean spirit, kill and drown Thornflare, the FireClan deputy, Goldwing backed off as Goldpaw made the same move at the FireClan Temple at him._

**...**

Goldwing gasped hard as he woke up. He looked around to see several nests that were used at the bottom of the ship he was riding. Right now, he needed to think about his dream, and he didn't want to be disturbed. So he quietly climbed out of his hammock-nest and climbed up the stairs to the deck.

But he wasn't alone...

As he sat near the railing and stared out toward the sea, he heard a familiar female voice meow, "Hey, Goldpaw. I mean...Goldwing."

"Same here, Silver...heart," the Avatar Cat mewed, turning to face the silver she-cat.

It was still hard to believe they actually had warrior names. He, Silverheart, and Ashpaw..._No, Ash_feather...had become warriors the night before they left the Northern WaterClan. Ashfeather had chosen his own name in honor of Moonfeather, the beautiful white she-cat who sacrificed herself to save StarClan's moon spirit, Tatkresiwok.

Silverheart looked down at her white forepaws before mewing, "It's gonna take a while until we get used to our warrior names, huh?"

"Yeah," Goldwing replied, turning away from her. He thought she had a pretty warrior name, for she was a beautiful, powerful, and kind she-cat.

"Do you want to talk about your dream?" Silverheart mewed, padding forward and sitting down beside him.

Goldwing shook his head. "No." When he saw the serious look on her face, he confessed, "In my dream, I was in the Avatar Cat state, but I watched myself out of my physical body. That was scary. _I _was scary," he added, feeling a little scared.

Silverheart said nothing, but she pressed her muzzle to his ear as a sign of comfort. He leaned against her warm already-shedding fur, since newleaf was already coming.

**...**

The next morning, the three cats (Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather) were waiting as the WaterBending master, Snowstorm (who was Rainbreeze's lover) padded to them with several warriors behind him. Goldwing saw Silverheart nod toward the elderly pale gray tom.

A few quarter-moons ago, he remembered her hating Snowstorm because he wouldn't train her just for being a she-cat. But because he was shown Rainbreeze's old necklace, he became softer toward his lover's grandkit. When Goldwing and Silverheart had passed their assessment in their WaterBending training, Snowstorm had told them they were the best apprentices he had so far.

Snowstorm held a sphere-like amulet on a necklet (in the shape of a crescent moon on each side) in his jaws, and meowed, "We are giving you gifts of farewell," he meowed to the young cats.

To Silverheart, he draped the amulet around her neck and meowed, "Silverheart, I give you this amulet filled with water from the Moonpond. It has many uses to heal even the deepest scars. Don't lose it," he added half seriously and half wittily.

"Thank you, Snowstorm." Silverheart purred with appreciation and touched noses with him. It was a sign of a friendly thank-you or any other occasion.

"Avatar Cat Goldwing," Snowstorm meowed, gesturing for a cat to bring a box forward, "I give you these WaterBending scrolls. They'll help you, but they're still no match for a true mentor."

Goldwing looked at Silverheart, who was climbing on top of Archie the dragon and giving him a smile. He knew what Snowstorm meant: no matter how much he learned from scrolls, he could always learn more from a cat, especially from a cat he has a crush on. He dipped his head toward the pale gray elder and retreated toward Archie so they could leave after Ashfeather got his gift.

The dark gray tabby tom was kneading his paws on the ground as Snowstorm meowed, "As for you, Ashfeather-" As Ashfeather looked at him hopefully, he just got a pat on the shoulder from him and a reply: "Take care on your journey."

Ashfeather gave a huff of dejection and muttered, "Aw, shit," as he leaped onto Archie.

"Listen, you three," Snowstorm told the young warriors. "Go to the EarthClan fortress to the east side of EarthClan. There, Birchbark, a senior warrior of EarthClan, will give you an attendant to escort you to MudClan. You'll be safe as you begin your training with the leader Rockstar."

All three warriors dipped their heads to Snowstorm before Goldwing spoke to Archie, "Yip yip!" and the great dragon lifted himself into the sky. Before they left, Silverheart called out, "Say hi to Rainbreeze for us!" Goldwing knew that Snowstorm was moving to the Southern WaterClan because he was going to be with Rainbreeze.

The last time the three cats saw Snowstorm and his warriors was when they fished out spawning salmon from the water. Roaring a final farewell, Archie lifted himself up into the air and took off towards the rising sun.

**...**

Irontail let out a grunt of relaxation. The fat gray tabby FireClan elder and his nephew, Bearclaw, were staying at a bathhouse that stretched over a wide river. Irontail was lying down on his belly as two tomcats massaged his gray pelt under budding cherry blossom trees.

_What a beautiful sight, _he thought as he gazed at the cherry blossom trees. _It's really helping us relax._

"Ah...I knew I was missing out on something," Irontail sighed. "I've always marveled at how floating on a piece of bark for days and nights with no proper food and seagulls wanting to peck out your eyeballs can make one feel so tense?"

He glanced around at Bearclaw, but the dark brown tabby tom wasn't relaxing; he had a worried look on his scarred face. Gesturing for the attendants to stop, he got up, padded to Bearclaw, and sat down beside him.

"It's that time of year again," he meowed.

"Yeah," Bearclaw muttered sadly. "It's been a year today since I was exiled. I've lost everything." He looked up at his uncle and mentor as he went on, "I want it back badly. I want the Avatar Cat in my control. Most of all, I want the title of deputy and my honor. I don't want Darkstar to think I'm a piece of fox-dung. But he'll think I'm just pathetic."

"I'm sure he doesn't think you are pathetic," Irontail meowed with inflated positivity, hoping that Bearclaw would relax and forget that trouble. "Why would he exile you if he didn't care?"

Bearclaw didn't say anything, but he got up to pad away from his uncle.

Irontail exchanged a glance with the attendants and gave them worried glances. "Tell me if that went wrong," he asked them.

Both toms nodded. Then they both went back to doing whatever they were doing while Irontail talked with his nephew.

**...**

Out at sea on a ship, two rows of FireClan warriors were standing on the ship's deck and they fell to their paws when the decorated cabin before them was opened by the opener of the door and another cat. Out of the cabin strode four cats carrying some curtained platform with all their might in front of the warriors.

They set it down and pulled the curtains apart, revealing a black she-cat with cold shrewd golden eyes. Her eyes were so evil that it makes the most frightening badger cower in fear. The she-cat surveyed the area before her before she lifted a paw for silence, for the warriors were chattering nervously. When they finally rose to their paws, she got down and began prowling among the warriors.

She meowed coldly, "My brother and my uncle are traitors by dishonoring Darkstar, leader of FireClan, and they brought shame onto the Clan. You may have mixed feelings about attacking members of the royal family; I understand." Then she added with a menacing hiss, "But I assure you, if you pause, I, Frostfire, deputy of FireClan, will _not _pause to hunt you down. Dismissed."

All the warriors quickly ran off to their duties while one warrior, a brown captain, dipped his head to Frostfire respectfully. "Frostfire, I don't think the tides will bring the ship into the harbor by moonhigh."

Immediately, the black she-cat faced him and hissed, "I apologize, Captain, but I don't know a lot about the tides. So would you care to explain something to me?"

"Yes, ma'am," the captain replied, dipping his head to her again.

"Do the tides of the sea command our ship?" she asked him, feeling her claws slide out.

The brown tom looked confused. "Uh...I don't know."

The FireClan deputy wanted answers right away, and she didn't want him to get away. So she explained in a patronizing voice, "You just told me that the tides _won't_ bring the ship into the harbor by moonhigh. Now do the tides of the sea command our ship or not?"

"No, they don't," the brown tom replied, gulping nervously. "They don't command your ship."

"And if I throw you overboard," Frostfire went on, gazing out toward the sea, "would the tides decide to crush your dead body against the rocks?"

The captain crouched to the ground, gulped, and closed his eyes. "No, ma'am."

Frostfire licked her paw and swiped it over her ear, meowing, "Well, let me tell you this: stop worrying about the damn tides because they changed their mind about killing you, and start worrying about me because I'm still wondering if I should kill you or not."

"I'll find a way to steer us into the harbor," the brown captain squeaked as he dashed off and cast a frightened glance over his shoulder.

Frostfire glared after him as he left. What a fool he was being; she could have tortured him some more to get a decent answer from him. But that didn't matter, for she had some big fish to catch. She had heard her father talking about how Irontail and Bearclaw betrayed FireClan in the Battle of The North, and she wanted to make them pay.

_My dear brother and uncle better watch out, _Frostfire sneered to herself as the ship started to turn around.

**...**

Ashfeather looked over the left side of Archie, feeling rather bored. Goldwing could tell because he kept yawning and his blue eyes were getting out of focus. Archie flew over the mountains of EarthClan, not bothering to do much else rather than fly.

Suddenly, the dark gray tabby warrior looked up quickly, pleasure filling his gaze. Goldwing mewed, "Ashfeather, what the hell are you staring at?"

"We made it!" came the reply.

The three cats saw a very large hollowed space where a giant circular-walled tower made its place. Archie let out a roar of gratitude as he landed right in front of the tower. Immediately, a brown-&-gray tom padded forward and meowed with a gracious voice, "Greetings, Avatar Cat Goldwing! Welcome!"

Ashfeather stretched his legs, Goldwing nibbled the skin off of one of his claws, and Silverheart leapt down from Archie with supplies in her jaws. Tobias, Goldwing's red-tailed hawk, swooped down from the sky and landed on Goldwing's shoulder, cawing. The brown/gray tom bowed low ground for them as many warriors came from behind him.

"I am Birchbark, a general of EarthClan," he began. "And welcome again, great heroes! Tobias, Archie, the brave Ashfeather, the mighty Silverheart-"

"Mighty Silverheart?" the silver she-cat mewed, looking pleased. "I like the sound of that."

Fireworks exploded from behind them, and the three turned around to look. Four EarthBenders padded forward, lifting small green orbs from the ground and launching them into the air with their front paws. As Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather gazed at the fireworks, Ashfeather nodded in approval.

"Not bad! It's even better than what FireBenders call fireworks!" he purred.

After a few minutes of walking to the talking room, Goldwing surveyed the room. The room was large, with green-lit columns on each side of a central walkway. A desk was seen at the far end with a big banner showing a green circle and a brown square inside hanging from the ceiling. As the three cats sat down in front of the desk, Birchbark sat on top of the desk, scratched at his ear with one of his hind paws, and began to speak.

"Avatar Cat Goldwing," he began, "we've heard stories of how, at the Northern WaterClan, you defeated an entire FireClan platoon single-pawed. Incredible!" He lashed his tail with excitement as he went on, "I can't imagine what it feels like to have awesome power like yours. It's a very awesome power," he added, starting to scratch his ear again.

"I don't rely on it too much," Goldwing replied politely as he dipped his head to the general. It was true: he never tried to give too many injuries to an enemy when they fight.

But Birchbark was giving a small unknown smirk as he went on, "And I believe you're ready to battle Darkstar right now!"

Goldwing let out a contented sigh...before he realized what Birchbark was implying. He yelped with alarm, "What? No I'm not!"

"Goldwing needs more time. He needs to learn the two other elements before greenleaf ends," Silverheart spoke up for the golden tom.

"Why the hell should we wait?" Birchbark seemed to look agitated when he leaped down from his desk and ranted to them, "He's got all this power, and he can use that...power to slay many battle armies in just a few minutes. In those few minutes...he could kill that bastard now!"

Ashfeather raised his paw into the air and interrupted, "Sir, being in the Avatar Cat state is the only time he can do those things."

Goldwing nodded to his friend with relief. _Good thing they're here when I could need them to help out. And I don't like to kill. _Out loud, he started saying, "Yeah, it's a special state when-"

"I know full enough what it is," Birchbark interrupted him heatedly. But his voice grew gentle as he mewed, "I know your eyes and arrow stripes glow when you're in it, and you gain control of fantastic power. Without your power, we'd be killed when we arrive onto our shores."

He started to pad towards a map on the wall that showed the eastern part of the world where they lived at. "With you leading us with your power, we will slice a hole right through the heart of FireClan!" he went on, pointing at the part of the map from EarthClan to where FireClan made their home.

"Okay," Goldwing stammered. He wasn't sure if he was ready to accept the role of leading an attack against FireClan. "I can help if I want to, but I'm not sure how to get in or out of the Avatar Cat state, much less what to do once I'm there."

The brown/gray warrior faced them. "Okay, so the decision is made. Since you can face your destiny, I can help you find a way to go into and out of the Avatar Cat state." His amber eyes were filled with hope.

While Goldwing and Ashfeather looked surprised, Silverheart looked furious. "I don't think so," she snapped irritably. "We already have a plan, so Goldwing can face _his_ destiny with _his own_ way, not yours!"

Birchbark let out a huff of impatience as he mewed, "Come look at this."

He signaled Goldwing with his tail to come to the window he was padding to. He pointed to a tent with many cats crowding outside it and Goldwing could smell blood and defeat on them. "That's our medicine cat's den, and these cats are the lucky ones. They came back and survived," the older warrior meowed.

Goldwing looked down at the cats unhappily as Birchbark urged him on.

"Cats are being killed out there, Goldwing! You can put an end to this! Think about it!"

Inside, Goldwing thought, _This is what a war is? Fighting and killing just to survive? Resorting to unnecessary battle tactics just to shed blood?_

**...**

As Frostfire stood up on her haunches, she could feel the dying sunlight beat off her black fur. She held her front paws down in front of her and glanced at two identical old Sphynx tabby she-cats.

_Show them everything you learned, _her father's voice echoed inside her head.

Frostfire swung her right paw around as electrical energy sparked from her paw. She looped it in a circle in the air did the same thing with her left as lightning sprung from the tips of her claws. The lightning sparked around the ship that they were traveling on, and she lunged forward to a piece of dead cow nearby; it had already died from starvation.

The electricity formed around her jaws as she crunched down onto the dead cow, blood spraying from the wound. Flames engulfed themselves around the nearly-rotten meat, roasting the meat until it was able to be eaten. She leapt back as the smoke formed around her mouth and a single hair from her head fur dangled over her face.

The elderly Sphynx cats nodded and rasped at the same time, "It is almost perfect. Just one hair out of place."

Frostfire glared at the piece of hair over her face, unsheathed one claw, and cut it away from her head. "'Almost' isn't good enough! I need to get perfect at this!" she snarled, spitting out the cow meat. Then she let her claws crackle with electricity and she lunged at the dead cow again.

**...**

Irontail woke from his sleep in the bathhouse. He glanced around to see his nephew sleeping, but he thought he saw blue lightning in his dreams.

_No, I don't think it's her, _the gray tabby cat mused as he fell back to sleep. _It can't be her._

**...**

At the night-skied circular-walled tower, Goldwing slowly approached the desk of Birchbark. The gray/brown tomcat was sitting on his desk and studying a map that lay on top of it. He knew he wasn't ready to go straight into the Avatar Cat state, but he didn't want to let the world down like he had in the past.

So he padded into the room and mewed, "Excuse me, Birchbark."

"Oh, greetings, Goldwing," Birchbark greeted him warmly, looking up from the map and dipped his head to him. When he lifted his head, his amber eyes looked hopeful. "I was taking a look into this map here, but I could take some time from it. Did you think over our chat?"

"Yes." Goldpaw looked down, feeling unsure. But he lifted his head to meow, "I'll fight Darkstar for EarthClan."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing wondered what he got himself into as he padded to the room where he, Silverheart, and Ashfeather were staying at. He felt that he was crazy, but he had no choice; Darkstar would kill more innocent cats if he refused to follow Birchbark's advice.

He padded into the room, where the two WaterClan warriors were lying down in their nests. Silverheart raised her head to greet the Avatar Cat with Tobias resting on her back. Giving a sigh, Goldwing leaped up onto his nest, earning him a look of confusion from his friends.

"Guys, I told Birchbark I'll help him...by going into the Avatar Cat State," he sighed.

Silverheart's blue eyes were filled with disbelief and horror. "No, Goldwing! This isn't the right way to do it!"

"Well, why the hell shouldn't he?" Ashfeather backed Goldwing up as he rested on his back and stared up at the ceiling. "You were there when Goldwing took out that entire FireClan army. He was awesome out there!"

"But practice, discipline, and study help you do the right thing!" Silverheart snapped, her voice rising with disbelief. "It says so in the Warrior Code!"

Ashfeather yawned and retorted, "Or he'll just glow and beat Darkstar up. Honestly, Silverheart," he added teasingly, "it like you're gonna do a Hollyleaf and bitch a lot tomorrow!"

Goldwing couldn't help but feel amused at the little joke and purred with the dark gray tabby. He was now reminded of Hollyleaf, a former ThunderClan warrior who was very fanatical about the Warrior Code, leading to her eventual odd demise. It turned out she was alive, but she seemed to have been too obsessed with the Warrior Code before she had vanished.

**(Author's Note: Anyone who is a fan of Hollyleaf...I'm sorry.)**

But laughing was the wrong thing to do, for Silverheart leaped out of her nest. Her silver fur was bristling, her whiskers were twitching, and her blue eyes were glowing like bitter ice. She snarled furiously, "So that's what you want? Well, if you shitheads want to throw everything we worked for away, be my guest! Just go and glow it the hell up!"

She began to stalk irritably away, but Goldwing dashed forward and planted himself between her and the exit. He felt guilty about not taking it seriously, but he needed to let Silverheart know about what he felt. She tried to get around him, but he kept leaping in her way whenever there was an exposed space.

"Please, Silverheart! I'm just being realistic!" Goldwing pleaded as he continued blocking the way. When she stopped getting away, he looked down at the ground and flattened his ears and whiskers, feeling ashamed and sad. "I just don't have time to do it the right way..."

**...**

The next sunrise, the three warrior cats were already ready for the Avatar Cat state lessons to start. They were sitting at a small table in the figure of a heptagon a cliff side away from the base with a small open-air building on top. On the table was a green steaming teapot, and the gray teacher was dropping something into the tea.

"This chi-enhancing tea is a likely tonic," the teacher mewed as he stirred the pot with two small short sticks. "In a normal warrior cat, it develops power and vigor ten times the normal way. But in you, it may perhaps kick off the Avatar Cat State."

The gray tom poured the team into a cup in front of Goldwing, who was sitting at the small table across from him and next to Birchbark. Both Ashfeather and Silverheart sat alongside each other a few inches behind the golden tom. Goldwing inspected the cup with curiosity and tilted his head to one side.

"So it increases energy ten times more normal, eh?"

He then lapped up the drink with his thirsty tongue, but suddenly, he felt both his eyes twitch and he suddenly began to race around the small structure on his Air Paws while the other cats stayed put, immobile with mystification.

He was now speaking in a rapid, high, frenzied voice while zooming all over on his Air Paws, _"Does it work does it work I can't tell someone tell me if I'm in the Avatar Cat State myself am I chatting too loudly?"_

Ashfeather had a bored look on his face as he whispered to Silverheart, "Maybe he could _talk_ Darkstar to death?"

Finally, Goldwing hit the column holding the building up, his Air Paws vanished and the shawl falling on top of him. The two warriors flinched when he fell down with a thud, but he seemed to be all right, however dizzy he looked.

**...**

At the entrance gate that same morning, Goldwing and Silverheart sat together while Birchbark paced around impatiently behind them. Ashfeather was scratching his ear; this was his way of thinking. Goldwing knew that his friend was a very smart cat, even though he wouldn't always reveal it.

"Maybe we can _scare_ you into the Avatar Cat State," he mewed as he finished scratching.

Goldwing liked surprises and agreed by mewing excitedly, "Awesome! I love surprises!"

He waited patiently while Silverheart covered his eyes with her front paws as Goldwing fidgeted with delight. But when she removed her forepaws from his eyes, he was very shocked to see Ashfeather standing on his hind legs like a bear, was wearing a green robe...and his head was replaced with a screeching Tobias' head.

The golden Avatar Cat leaped away with fright and with a yowl of shock. He looked down at his paws and saw that Ashfeather's plan didn't work. The arrow stripes on his legs and paws didn't work their glowing stuff. He stretched his fore legs out and looked at Ashfeather.

"Sorry, but I don't see any glowing."

Ashfeather kicked the ground while losing balance as he and Tobias fell to the ground. They let out a yowl and screech of alarm respectively when they fell. Birchbark just gave an exasperated sigh and padded away from the younger cats.

**...**

Still on that same day, Goldwing and his friends had gone to a nearby temple, where Goldwing was forced to stand in the center of the temple. He had to wear an absurd hat with leaves coming out of the top and a blue cape. Birchbark, Ashfeather, and Silverheart stood at the Avatar Cat's right side. A pale brown priest was in the distance near a staircase.

The pale brown priest began pompously "Young tom, you are wearing a ritual piece of garments from each of the Bending Clans. I will unite the four Elements into one! Water, earth, fire, air!" As he shouted each element, he tossed a large bucket of water of water, a ball of dirt, a torch, and air from a pipe into a mixture. "Four elements together have now become one!" With that said, he threw the mixture at Goldwing.

Almost all of the mixture splashed onto his bright golden pelt and some of it got into his eyes and his mouth. Rubbing his eyes and spitting, Goldwing looked up at him with indignation.

"This is just mud!" the golden cat meowed. "You just threw mud at me!"

But the priest just gave him an odd look. "Do you feel anything?"

Goldwing felt his nose twitch, and his whiskers quivered. He raised his paw to answer the priest but not before looking back at the three other cats; they all had hopeful looks on their faces. But suddenly...

"Waaachooo!"

A big sneeze erupted from him like lava from a volcano; he knew about volcanoes since he and his friends battled one around a moon ago. Goldwing took another look behind him to see mud and disappointment on their faces and pelts. Both Silverheart and Ashfeather shook their pelts as quickly as a dog, and so did Birchbark. To answer the question, he shook his head.

"Damn." Birchbark swiped the mud away from his face with his paw while his fur bristled with anticipation. But when he spoke, it was just filled with resolve. "We need to find another way for you, young Goldwing."

**...**

Bearclaw studied the bag of shells that Irontail had collected on their way back to the bathhouse. He thought that the shells were pretty, but now they couldn't go on collecting knick-knacks like there was no tomorrow. Darkstar would want to send them away from home again anytime soon.

"Look at these wonderful shells I collected, nephew!" Irontail purred, dumping the shells onto the table and shoving one toward the dark brown tabby. "These shells will be ideal treasures to treasure forevermore."

But Bearclaw didn't take the shell; instead, he nudged it back to the gray tabby tom, meowing, "Uncle, we can't bring along other bits of useless trash, you know that. We gotta carry everything on our own now, or did you forget that?"

"Hello, dear brother."

Bearclaw whipped around to see something in a shadowy corner of the house: two shiny golden eyes peering out from the shadows at him and Irontail. When the possessor of those eyes padded into plain sight, Bearclaw gasped with shock. It was his younger littermate Frostfire, who had a huge pearl-colored shell in her jaws.

"What are YOU doing here?" he spat, his blood boiling with anger. Irontail gazed at his black-furred niece with wide amber eyes.

But Frostfire seemed adamant to their stares; instead, she rolled the shell around on the ground with her front paw and looked up at them. Then she mewed arrogantly, "Didn't you know that in FireClan, we say 'Greetings. How's the prey running?' before we ask questions? Did you become so much like a rogue that you forgot your roots, Teddy?" she added mockingly as she padded over to face her brother.

"Don't call me that, you bitch!" Bearclaw growled, his blood steaming heatedly. He always hated the nickname "Teddy."

To keep a fight from happening, Irontail held his tail in the way to block Bearclaw. To Frostfire, he meowed, "To what do we owe this honor to?"

"Hmm... It must be a family feature. Both of you are so quick to get to the point." As she said the last word, she set the shell down and smashed it with her paw so hard that the shell broke into tiny pieces. Despite that, her claws were still fine after that. Bearclaw turned to see his uncle's face darken with shock and horror.

Getting their attention, she went on, "I came here because I, the FireClan deputy, have a message for you. Father had a change of heart. Family has become important to him. He has heard tales of tactics to overthrow him...unfaithful plans. Family is the only thing you can really trust." At this, her voice and face softened like honey. "Father is sorry he banished you and wants you to come home."

Bearclaw looked away, thinking. This couldn't be right; why would Darkstar want him to come home all of a sudden? He wondered if it was really a plan.

"Didn't you hear me?" Frostfire meowed. "You should be happy. Excited. Pleased. I just gave you good news."

"I'm sure your littermate needs a few minutes-" Irontail began.

"Don't interrupt me, Uncle!" Frostfire whirled onto him and snarled with menace. Then Bearclaw saw his sister appear at his side and mew, "I didn't hear you say a little 'Thank you' yet. I'm not a passenger falcon, you know. I didn't have to come all the way here."

Bearclaw faced her with quiet disbelief and wonder. "Father is sorry for my exile? H-He wants me back?"

Frostfire snorted and turned away from him. "I see you need to think of it some more. I will call you tomorrow. Good evening to you both."

Without another word, she stepped out of the house and dashed away with the sun shining on her shadowy fur.

**...**

"Hey, Goldwing. Can I talk with you?"

Goldwing turned around from staring at the sunset as he sat on the railing of the base. He had already eaten a thrush for dinner, and what Silverheart wanted to talk about made him want to lose his appetite for dessert. But he knew he could trust her with his life.

"Sure. Come sit next to me." He flicked his tail down to the spot next to him. So Silverheart padded to him, leaped onto the rail next to him, and sat down as they watched the sunset together.

Then Silverheart began to meow with concern, "Remember when we visited your AirClan camp and you found Goldenstripe's skeleton? It must've been so awful and dreadful for you. I saw you get so sad and upset that you weren't yourself any longer. I'm not saying that the Avatar Cat State doesn't have awesome...and useful...power. But you have to see that, for those who love you and care for you, watching you be in rage and pain is scary."

Those words helped Goldwing feel a little better, but he knew she couldn't stop him from what he had to do. He licked her torn ear and meowed, "Thanks, Silverheart. But I have to do this the next dawn."

"I don't understand," she told him, hurt in her voice.

"Of course you don't," Goldwing replied, looking away from her. "Birchbark told me that more cats are killed day after day. I've already been fourteen years late. Defeating Darkstar is the only and best way to stop this damn war. I have to try."

With tears forming in her blue eyes, Silverheart murmured quietly, "I don't want you to do this to yourself, and I can't watch. So I won't come see you tomorrow." The silver cat leapt down from the railing and walked away, but she paused and turned to look at him, a tear running down her cheek. "Goodnight, Goldwing."

Sighing, Goldwing replied unhappily as his friend padded away, "You too, Silverheart. Good-night."

He knew that she would take this the wrong way, but he didn't expect her to cry over it. With another sigh, he leaped down from the railing and followed her to the room where they were staying at.

**...**

"We're finally going home. After a long year!"

Irontail looked up as Bearclaw shoveled some items into his bag with his paw, happily speaking to his uncle. As he picked up the bag and padded past Irontail, he stopped to see what the matter was.

"This is unbelievable," Irontail muttered. "I have never known Darkstar to ever regret anything."

Irontail could see confusion in his nephew's good amber eye, but when Bearclaw spoke, he was trying to be convincing: "Did you not listen to Frostfire, mouse-brain? Father sees how important family is to him! He cares about me and wants me home!"

Irontail looked up at him with his amber eyes gleaming. "But _I _care about you, my kin and blood. And if Darkstar _really_ wants you back...well, it may not be for any good reason you see."

"You don't know what he feels about me!" Bearclaw hissed sensitively as he turned away from his uncle and stared at the moon. He hardened as he rasped sulkily, "You don't know anything."

"Bearclaw," Irontail mewed gently as he laid a paw on his shoulder, "I am only saying that things are not what they seem in Tigerstar's descendants."

Suddenly, Bearclaw whirled around on the spot, cuffed his uncle on the ear, and leaned forward to his face, leaning in. "But I know what YOU really seem to be," he growled austerely. "A fat, idle, distrustful, and petty old shit who hides jealously as his brother's echo!"

With a final glare, Bearclaw turned around and stalked angrily away.

Irontail looked after his kin, looked down to the ground, and sadly closed his eyes. He was very certain that his nephew didn't mean to say those very appalling things, but there seemed to be no way to dissuade him this time. Then he padded back into the house and began to think pensively.

**...**

_Goldwing was standing on a river with icy cliffs on both banks as he looked around him. He saw his apprentice self glowing in the Avatar Cat State and exploding from the sea in a tall column of spinning water. He soared through the sky turned down toward a FireClan ship with Goldwing standing on the deck. The glowing Goldpaw landed on the deck and swung his vortex of water like a snake at Goldwing._

"_MMMRRROOOWWWRRR!"_

_Goldpaw stood in front of Goldwing with Bearclaw looking on behind him. He suddenly turned around, and Bearclaw temporarily donned a defensive position with teeth bared before turning and fleeing. Goldpaw was no longer glowing as he sent another WaterBending attack at him._

Goldwing woke from his sleep, panting like mad and his claws unsheathed during his sleep; the moon still hung around in the sky as sticky as a honeycomb. He sheathed his claws and turned around to Ashfeather, who was buried in a mound of blankets on his nest.

"Hey, Ashfeather. Wake up. I gotta tell you something," he told the WaterClan cat softly.

"Wha...?" Ashfeather's voice was groggy with sleep.

Goldwing sat up, feeling wary but determined to get all the fear off of his chest. Summoning up his courage, he whispered, "I've been thinking of this since I woke up. Let's not go into the Avatar Cat State right away. Silverheart's right."

Ashfeather poked his head out from the blankets. His pale blue eyes looked saggy with sleep; the loose strands of fur on his face and ears told the Avatar Cat that the dark gray tabby tom was also shedding. Like his sister, he had thick fur. "You sure?" he asked sleepily.

"Yep."

His friend continued to gaze at him groggily, but he just shrugged and fell back into the blankets. "Okay. Sure."

Goldwing felt surprise rise inside him. "Won't Birchbark get mad?" he asked.

"Why the hell should he? You're the Avatar Cat, after all. Who knows this stuff better than you?" his friend mewed, huddling deep under the covers until only his tail was sticking out.

With that, Goldwing rolled over onto his back and stared at the night sky, the stars shining bright and a small cloud covering the moon. Goldwing knew that in ancient Clan times, a cloud slowly covering the moon meant that StarClan was showing its anger. He hoped they didn't get mad at him for skipping out from the plan.

_StarClan, I can't find the way. Guide me through this time of insecurity._

**...**

With a yowl of joy, Bearclaw skipped down the stairway with the supplies held tightly in his jaws. He felt a tiny twinge of guilt for accusing and insulting his uncle, but if he didn't want to come back home, that was his problem. He paused just for a second and looked down at the FireClan ship in the bay below, then he turned around to continue on.

_I can't wait to see Father again!_

"Wait for me! Don't leave without your uncle!"

Knowing who that was but feeling joyful, the dark brown tabby turned on the spot to see Irontail rushing down the stairway. He was carrying a bag over his shoulder as he tripped over some steps but went on running to his nephew.

When the gray tabby caught up with him, Bearclaw squeaked with surprise, "Uncle? You finally changed your mind!"

Irontail licked his kin on the shoulder as he answered warmly, "Of course! Cats of Tigerstar's family stick together, correct?"

As Irontail licked Bearclaw's shoulder, Bearclaw could see himself standing near two cats: a big gray tabby tom and a young dark brown tabby kit...his younger self. Irontail really did care for him and his cousin Wolfcloud, even in the past. So he gave his uncle a gentle lick on the ear and looked into his eyes.

"Uncle...I'm sorry for what I said-"

"Apology accepted, my nephew," Irontail purred.

Bearclaw purred back as he murmured, "We're finally going home, Uncle."

Both toms padded their way down the stairs, but Bearclaw didn't know that his uncle had the same skeptical look on his face from the night before. The two cats glanced down at a second ship coming into the bay as they went over to the dock.

**...**

"Birckbark, I don't think I can activate the Avatar Cat State intentionally. So that's all I can say. I'm not doing it."

Goldwing was standing in front of Birchbark's desk the next morning; he finally had the courage to say what was on his mind over the night. Silverheart was right; she was his best friend, and he couldn't bear to see her reaction if he went along with Birchbark's hassled plan. If he had gone along with the plan, she would be horrified.

Birchbark gazed at him with dissatisfaction in his amber eyes. "Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

Goldwing glanced sadly down at the floor and whispered, "No, sir, there's nothing that'll change my mind. If I was in real danger, that's when I'd go into the Avatar Cat State deliberately."

"Oh," the brown-&-gray tom replied, looking away. "I was afraid you'd say that..." At that, he leaped off of his desk and stood behind it, not saying anything else.

Suddenly, he pushed the desk away hard, and it flew at Goldwing with the force of a charging badger. The Avatar Cat let out a screech of surprise and pain as it collided with him, and they rocketed out the open window.

"Goldwing!" Ashfeather howled, leaping forward from his spot in the office. But before he could move, he was suddenly pounced on by two large EarthBending cats.

As the desk and Goldwing crashed through the window, the golden cat felt sharp pieces of glass cut his skin and the scent of blood covered his pelt. But as he fell, he used AirBending to slow down the fall with a gust of air blasting from his mouth. He tumbled forth when he hit the ground while the desk behind him crashed and broke into pieces like rocks.

He looked up to see Birchbark glaring down at him from the destroyed window. He pointed his tail at Goldwing and addressed all his warriors behind him with a snarl. The EarthClan warrior yowled so loudly that his voice reached the heavens, "Warriors of EarthClan, attack the Avatar Cat!"

Goldwing felt his heart beat at an abnormal pace and his eyes widened as four packs of three cats stalked toward him. They were closing in on him, their yellow, green, and amber eyes gleaming with battle as they extracted their claws and bared their teeth. Even Birchbark was glaring down at him as if he was an ordinary FireClan cat.

This was not what he prayed to StarClan about making this an understanding day.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing shook his head and looked up in confusion. Why would Birchbark behave like this? But before he could say anything, the gray-brown tomcat leaped down from the open window and planted himself in front of the Avatar Cat, sending a wave of earth to him which he jumped over. Goldwing landed on the ground on all four paws, staring at him with disbelief.

"Birchbark, what the hell are you doing?" he yowled.

The EarthBender's amber eyes glowed with malice as he growled, "Oh, nothing. Just trying to get some _results_!"

The six EarthBenders on either side lifted spherical discs of earth with square holes in the middle around themselves and hurled them at him. The first two rolled at Goldwing from both sides, and he stepped backward, avoiding them. He bunched his muscles together, leaped into the air, and spread out his body horizontally as two discs flew directly above and below him. He soared amid them without a scratch, landed, and looked over his shoulder. Other EarthBenders stood ready to attack with more discs behind him.

Goldwing turned to Birchbark and yowled, "I don't wanna be your enemy! And I don't want to fight you!"

Four discs were launched at Goldwing, and the young warrior leaped over them as they collided where he was standing. He landed on one of the other discs, and another flew from the left and knocked it over. As he fell, two of the other upright discs closed in around him.

Goldwing already felt squeezed in the square holes in the discs as they began to roll. The discs rolled into an EarthBender cat, who shattered them quickly. The young Avatar Cat went flying and slid along the ground. He stood up, surveying the warrior cats around him, warm blood dripping down his scraped leg.

Meanwhile, Ashfeather was still pinned down by two of the bigger cats. But suddenly, he lifted up his hind legs and slammed his paws down on those of the guards. They looked like they were in pain, and the dark gray tabby warrior fled as they fell down to the floor. Then he ran over to the broken wall that Goldwing fell through and looked down in horror.

Meanwhile, four EarthBenders enclosed Goldwing against the wall, throwing their stone discs. Two collided with each other parallel and Goldwing jumped over them. The other two tried to smash him between them, but he leaped through the hole in the middle of the one on the right. He zoomed off on his Air Paws while three EarthBenders tried to raise walls of earth to stop him. Goldwing wounded up between them and shot past two spear-wielding guards on horses.

They began to chase after him, but Goldwing started to go up the wall of the battle base with the horses in pursuit. He began to tire out toward the top, his Air Paws disappearing, so he had to just run for his life. The horses closed in, and Goldwing barely missed their spears, but he began to fall.

The golden warrior hit the ground on his back and tumbled forward, the horses jumping down behind him. He stumbled forward onto one of the disc-shaped pieces of the floor. But Birchbark lifted it up with EarthBending, trapping the Avatar Cat in the center and bringing him to him.

"You can run all you want, but you can't run forever!" the brown-&-gray tom sneered.

"But you can't _fight_ forever!" Goldwing snapped, leaping at Birchbark as the warrior leaped at him. In a minute, the two warrior cats were rolling on the ground, clawing and biting each other.

**...**

Back at Frostfire's ship, FireClan cats formed two ranks along the path leading to the ship, and Bearclaw and Irontail padded toward them. They saw Frostfire standing at the top of the stairs leading onto her ship, a warrior cat on each side. As Bearclaw and Irontail padded between the cats, the younger warrior looked happy, while Irontail eyed them warily. He didn't care if his niece was welcoming them kindly; there was something devious going on.

Frostfire rose to her haunches with her front paws raised in salutation. "Welcome to my ship, my brother and uncle!" she purred. "I'm so happy you could come."

Both tomcats bowed to her, although Irontail opened one eye and looked around the warriors. This looked more like a border patrol rather than welcoming Clanmates.

"Are we ready to head off, ma'am?" one warrior, a brown tabby, asked his deputy.

"Yes," the black she-cat purred in a nice voice. "Set our course for our destination: home."

Irontail could hear Bearclaw sigh serenely and wistfully; he could tell his nephew was thinking of home. But the fat gray tabby tom wasn't thinking about the same thing. Instead, he wondered if they were really going home instead of being overthrown.

Then Bearclaw and Irontail began padding up the stairs onto the ship, the captain leading the way. But the brown tabby captain said something that made Irontail's suspicions true: "Hurry up, lazy furballs! You heard the deputy! Raise the anchors so we can take the prisoners back...uh..."

But the brown tabby cat suddenly stopped speaking and looking ashamed, for he had seemed to realize his mistake. Frostfire stood beside him and glared at him with rage in her scary golden eyes. Bearclaw's good golden eye was gleaming with surprise turning into rage. Irontail knew that the only thing to do now was to escape, and he knew how.

He spun around on his spot, grabbed a gray cat by the throat, and tossed him off the ship before doing the same to another cat down the incline. Another warrior leaped at him from his left, but Irontail flew right at him and knocked him off the incline. He clawed at yet another cat that had approached from his right and grabbed another, spinning him around and tossing him away in a flurry of blood.

Immediately, Bearclaw grabbed one guard by the throat, shaking him and throwing him off the incline into the water. He ran up the incline toward his littermate, looking very furious. Irontail couldn't blame him, even though he would feel the same thing.

"You bitch! You lied to me!" he roared.

Frostfire shrugged, looking smug, as she retorted, "Like I haven't done _that_ before."

She turned around to stalk away and two warriors blocked the way, but Bearclaw leaped at them and shoved them aside with a screech of fury. Frostfire snarled at her guards to go before the two cats glared at one another, their fur bristling and their father's amber eyes glittering angrily. They even started to circle one another, their lips peeled back to reveal snarling white fangs.

Irontail watched with anxious anticipation as he watched his kin start to fight. A match between brother and sister was soon to begin...

**...**

Back at the EarthClan base's training yard, Goldwing dashed away from the small area as four discs fell from the sky down at him. He turned around and began to run to the left, with a disc rolling after him. Goldwing panted hard and let out a screech of fear as it flew at him. So he prepared a leap of faith as he crouched low to the ground.

_StarClan, save me!_

**...**

Silverheart sighed as she laid in her nest, her tail wrapped around her nose and Tobias resting by her side. It was true she wouldn't watch Goldwing, for she couldn't bear to see him wasting his energy away uselessly to go into the Avatar Cat State. But she couldn't sit around and wait for him to tire out unless she was around.

Suddenly, the room began to shake and she looked up, feeling alarmed. She looked down at Tobias and muttered, "What crazy stunt are they doing now?"

The male red-tailed hawk shrugged his shoulders and fell asleep.

"Maybe we should see if Goldwing's okay," she sighed tiredly.

She stretched her forelegs out and leaped out of her nest, running out of the room and out into the bright spring air. Right out the tower, she saw Ashfeather loping down the stairs across from her, and the two WaterClan warriors met up at the bottom.

"Ashfeather, what the hell's going on?" Silverheart yowled to her brother.

"Birchbark has gone insane!" Ashfeather panted, looking at her. "He's trying to use his warriors to force Goldwing into the Avatar Cat State!"

The two littermates watched as Goldwing leaped between two groups of EarthClan warriors. Ashfeather pulled out his badger-bone boomerang and tossed it at his opponent. Right as one EarthBending cat was about to throw his disc at the Avatar Cat, the Boomerang hit his helmet and knocked him out cold, his disc falling over.

**...**

Goldwing was now springing away from the flailing hooves of the horses as the large animals galloped at him. Suddenly, he heard something rush by; there was a spear being sliced in half. Goldwing saw that Silverheart had arrived, her claws glistening with ice, for she was the one who sliced it in half.

"Silverheart! You came!"

"I wanted to see if you were okay!" Silverheart mewed before leaping away at her next foe.

A neigh made Goldwing spin around, and he saw Ashfeather slowly approaching a brown horse that had been chasing him earlier. Its rider was knocked out next to it and the large animal wasn't too reassured at having a new rider.

As Ashfeather took the reins of the horse, the dark gray tabby cat murmured soothingly, "Nice horsey...nice horsey..." When he slowly got onto its saddle, it reared onto its hind legs, neighed loudly, and galloped away, its hooves thundering the ground.

Suddenly, a yowl made Goldwing look around his shoulder from the horse and what he saw next made him yowl with fright. Silverheart was in the center of the arena, surrounded by disc-shaped rocks and their owners; when Goldwing climbed up the stairs to jump down at them, he heard a voice yowl out to him:

"You might try and avoid me, Avatar Cat, but she can't!"

The EarthBenders used their discs to create a v-shaped wall, making sure that the only means of escape was by the brown-&-gray tabby tomcat. Silverheart threw her streaming icy claws of cold water at Birchbark, but he raised a patch of dirt, creating a patch of mud. He took up a fighting stance and sneered as he watched the silver warrior struggle.

Silverheart rose to her hind legs, spun around on her spot, and slowly began sinking into the ground. She was now up to her back knees in dirt. She struggled to escape, but now...she couldn't budge at all.

The silver cat yowled in horror, struggled without success, and screeched, "Goldwing, help me! I...I can't move!"

"Don't hurt her, Birchbark!" Goldwing snarled angrily and leapt down the stairs at him.

He leaped down from the staircase and shot a large stream of air at Birchbark, who looked up in pure surprise. He quickly recovered and raised a wall of earth to protect himself. He lowered the wall, and then turned back to Silverheart, who sank deeper into the ground and let out another yowl of terror.

"No! Silverheart!" Ashfeather, who was still riding on the horse, called from behind one of the discs on his horse.

Goldwing knew from bitter experience that his friend was very protective for his friend. But there wasn't any chance of success as he charged toward the EarthClan warrior. Birchbark sunk the horse's legs into the dirt and Ashfeather got tossed, yowling, from the riding creature's back, landing in the hole of one of the discs.

Now there was nothing else to do, so he leaped forward, curled up into a ball, and tossed himself right at Birchbark. Some of the warriors leaped out of the way when the Zetsu Tenrou Battouga came right through, but now he was very good at stopping his faithful Battouga at any time he wanted. He stopped the Battouga, leaped forward at Birchbark, and sunk his claws desperately into the tom's flank.

He felt his heart wrench as he cried, "Please stop this! Let her go!"

"If you were in the Avatar Cat State, you'd save her!" Birchbark snarled cruelly, glaring angrily down at the Avatar Cat.

"I'm trying! Just give me more time!" Goldwing sobbed desperately. Frustrated and distressed, he could feel tears run down his face and down onto the hot earth as he looked up at Birchbark.

Another yowl from Silverheart made Goldwing look quickly around, and he was shocked when she sank deeper into the ground up to her front legs. She yowled out, "Goldwing, hurry! Please! I'm sinking!"

Birchbark gave her a mocking look before glaring back at Goldwing, growling in a harsh teasing tone, "I don't see any glowing!" Then he reared to his hind legs and pushed his front paws toward the ground. This made Silverheart sink even further until only her head remained above ground.

"MMrrooww!" the silver she-cat screeched, terrified. "Goldwing, help!"

Goldwing couldn't bear this pain, for it was even more horrible than a fox sinking its teeth into his throat. He dropped to the ground at Birchbark's paws, his claws still sliding down the tabby tom's pelt and making blood appear and drip to the ground. Despite this, the EarthClan warrior seemed to not feel the pain.

"Birchbark, please!" Goldwing screeched wildly. "Please! You don't have to do this!"

"Oh...but I do," Birchbark sneered. Then he pulled in his foreclaws and...Silverheart disappeared totally into the ground.

Horrified for her life, Goldwing quickly dove forward to rescue her, just barely missing her front paws. Feeling very upset, he could feel tears run down his face, for he felt that he had failed to rescue her; she was probably dead.

Now his sadness was replaced with pure anger as he felt the arrow stripe on his head start to glow ominously and turned around. The Avatar Cat State had finally been activated. He glared angrily at Birchbark as he rose to his paws, cursing him for causing all this to happen.

_That bastard...that BASTARD!_

"Yes! It worked!" Birchbark yowled happily, his fur bristling with delight. "I knew it would work!"

Goldwing sent forward a strong blast of wind that hit Birchbark, and he shielded himself with his body. The young AirClan warrior now stood before him, wind billowing around him. Birchbark gave him a satisfied grin, but the grin quickly faded to horror as he became terrified. Goldwing slammed down his front paws to create air, and Birchbark went flying backward. He landed at the base of the tower, his head hitting the stone. Goldwing finally lifted himself up in a whirlpool of dirt.

**...**

Bearclaw leaped on board, knocking two warrior cats on either side out of the way with flames coming out of his legs and jaws. Furious that he had been tricked, the dark brown tabby tomcat leapt up to face his sister, feeling hatred boil his blood faster and hotter than lava. Then he took up a fighting stance at the left of the deck while Frostfire remained motionless, her back to her brother. The black she-cat glanced to her left and grinned evilly while he slid his claws out, fire daggers appearing at the tips.

_She'll pay for this!_

He heard yowling behind him, and he turned to see Irontail fighting warriors on the path leading to the ship. A warrior launched a clawing attack at him, but a blast of fire from Irontail sent him flying. Two other cats approached from each side, and the gray tabby elder sent two blasts of fire at them, knocking them from the path. Another cat tried to swipe at Irontail's face, but he leaped away from it, grabbing the cat's tail and putting a paw on his neck. Holding the cat, he turned around toward the ship.

"Hurry, Bearclaw! Let's go!" he yowled. Then he tossed the warrior off the side of the trail.

Another warrior approached him, leaping at him with claws unsheathed, but Irontail leaped aside again and pushed him away with a swipe to the face. Blood sprayed in the air; Irontail looked as powerful as he had been moons ago. That was why he was a powerful warrior cat.

Bearclaw ignored his uncle and swiped his fire claws into the air ferociously. He swung his long tiger claws at Frostfire repeatedly, but she simply avoided them. She grabbed his throat and spun him around. Bearclaw was breathing hard from the quick shortness of breath.

As she pinned him to the deck, she hissed into his ear, "Darkstar always blamed Irontail and you for the defeat at WaterClan and for Thornflare's death. And he's calling you a disgrace for failing to catch the Avatar Cat! Why the hell would he want you back? He'll probably want you back to lock you up so other cats won't look at your failure face!"

Rage flowed through Bearclaw's bloodstream quicker than a stream of ice. How dare she say this to beat him faster? His black-furred littermate had always been like this when she was a kit, and she hadn't changed at all.

Growling, he unsheathed his back claws and kicked at her belly, making her leap away. When he got back up, they traded blows; some landed on Frostfire's ears while Bearclaw had many bloody wounds on him. She swiped at his face with her claws and Bearclaw reeled back, blood trickling onto the dark gray deck. He charged forward and screeched, swiping his fire claws at her. She blocked his blows fluently, and the fight continued up the stairs toward the cabin of the ship.

She kicked at Bearclaw as he got to his haunches, knocking him down the stairs a bit. The large dark tabby recovered fast and charged back toward his littermate. Frostfire blocked his paw with her jaws, bringing it down soundly. She glared at him through fierce golden eyes, and Bearclaw's own golden eyes widened. He knew what she was going to do.

She tossed a blue flaming paw at his head, sending him tumbling down the incline. He landed with a thud and pulled himself up to his paws, looking back at the incline in horror. His vision was now blurry and shaky as he tried to locate Frostfire. She was sitting at the top of the incline and began to swing her tail in arcs around, lightning arcing around her. She aimed the tip of her tail at Bearclaw, and a lightning bolt shot toward him.

Bearclaw braced himself for the final blow, but then...something amazing happened.

Suddenly, before the lightning hit him, a gray tabby form bit Frostfire's tail, guided the electricity through his body, pointed his tail at the mountains, and released the lightning right at it. This sort of move ended up blowing rocks off of the face of the mountain. Irontail turned to his niece and tossed her away over the edge of the ship; Frostfire landed with a splash in the water.

"Hurry!" Irontail yowled to his nephew, and the two cats ran off of the ship quickly.

**...**

Back at the EarthClan base, Goldwing was still swirling in his dusty whirlpool with Birchbark cowering in front of him. The brown-&-gray tabby tom had looked up at him with fright and began calling to him.

"Avatar Cat Goldwing! Can you hear me? Look!" He flicked his tail down to the ground, and Silverheart reappeared, rasping and sobbing for breath. "Your friend's okay! I only did that to get you into the Avatar Cat State! And it worked!"

But Goldwing wasn't listening; instead, he whirled around, his face angry. The vortex suddenly collapsed and the golden warrior slammed into the ground, a cloud of earth shooting forward. Birchbark was sent flying and large chunks of earth rose from the ground, sending EarthClan warriors into the air. The wave of obliteration crashed into the nearby buildings around the base, cracking them apart.

But while he was in this rage, Goldwing felt his body glow bright blue and stars swirled around his body, feeling very surprised. What was happening to him? He felt his spirit leave his body for a temporary time and lift up to StarClan. He remembered experiencing this when he had wanted to talk with Whitestorm, the FireBending Avatar Cat before him.

Speaking of Whitestorm, he suddenly found himself facing Avatar Cat Whitestorm. The pure white tom was looking at him while the two rode on a large male griffin.

"Goldwing, it is time you see and learn," he mewed and touched his black right front paw to his forehead.

When this happened, Goldwing found himself looking at four scenes: a brown tabby Avatar Cat performing EarthBending, a dark silver tabby Avatar Cat using WaterBending to surf, a black Avatar Cat (female) defending herself AirBending, and a black-&-white tabby Avatar Cat (male) surrounding himself with FireBending.

What was strange was that all of their eyes were glowing white.

Whitestorm's meow made him listen some more: "The Avatar Cat state is a powerful defense mechanism, designed to give power to you with the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatar Cats. The glow is the mixture of your past lives, focusing their energy through your body. You may be at your most powerful in the Avatar Cat State, but you are also at your weakest."

"At my weakest?" Goldwing asked him, feeling that he wouldn't rest until he knew. "What does that mean?"

Now all the other Avatar Cats before him had appeared before him and faced him with glowing eyes. Suddenly, all of them began to disappear in a swirl of stars, and even Whitestorm began to disappear, but not before saying this:

"Be careful, Goldwing: If you are killed in the Avatar Cat state, the rebirth cycle will be broken forever, and the Avatar Cat will cease to exist in the Clans."

The Avatar Cats vanished into thin air, ending with Whitestorm, who faded away. Goldwing looked away sadly, hardly believing that he had to keep alive or the Avatar Cat would disappear forever. But he had no time to worry about that, for Whitestorm's griffin flew back down to the real world.

Down toward Goldwing's glowing body, the griffin crashed into his body and disappeared back to StarClan, as did the sphere of wind. Goldwing felt his body go limp, and the golden warrior fell to the ground, no longer glowing. The glances at the ruins of the base around him were very understandable...except for one certain tomcat.

He could see a blur of silver fur rush toward him and, in a minute, Silverheart was trying to help him get to his paws. When Goldwing finally got to his paws, the two young cats embraced each other, Goldwing savoring in being against her warm pelt.

"I'm so sorry, Silverheart," he rasped, sounding tired and regretful. "I hope you never see me like that ever again."

"It's not your fault," the silver WaterClan warrior purred softly, burying her face into his neck fur. "Like I said before, I don't blame you for anything."

"Hah! Are you shitting me?" Birchbark's voice made both cats glare up at him as he approached them. "That was perfect! Now we need to control the way you go like that when you get mad!"

Silverheart glared angrily at him with livid dark blue eyes. "You're out of your _fucking_ mind!"

Growling at her, Birchbark turned to face Goldwing as he purred, "Ah...just try to figure that out on the way to FireClan and you're...uh!"

Ashfeather had gone up to behind him while riding on his horse quietly and beat him on the head with his boomerang. The gray-&-brown tabby fell to the ground, insensible with blood trickling out of his mouth. Goldwing knew that the dark gray tabby tom was very angry at the EarthClan warrior for endangering his sister.

Then Ashfeather glared at the warriors and spat, "Any of you assholes got a problem with that?"

All of them shook their heads in unison, now afraid after what Goldwing had done. Now he wished that he hadn't lost his temper, but it wasn't his fault at all. It was Birchbark's fault for endangering the life of the she-cat he had a big crush on.

As Ashfeather leaped down from the horse, the large animal whinnied and galloped off away from the cats. Then some of the warriors crept forward cautiously and bowed before the three young warriors.

"Um...do you three still need an escort to MudClan?" one gray tabby meowed timidly.

"Nope! We can go there by ourselves!" Silverheart purred happily as Tobias flew downward and landed on top of Goldwing's head.

Without another word, the three warriors watched as Archie flew down toward them and allowed them to climb on board, Tobias settling right at the tip of Archie's muzzle. Then the Asian Lung Dragon let out a roar and lifted himself into the air, far away from the base and from Birchbark's knocked-out body.

_I hope we never see that guy ever again!_

**...**

Frostfire sniffed the air warily, catching a stale scent of her brother and uncle, but she wasn't surprised at all when they had packed up and fled. But she was still furious at the fleeing of Bearclaw and Irontail; they were nothing but troublemaking cowards, the both of them.

Frostfire glared down at the gathering cats below her before calling for a scroll to be brought to her. She held it up and showed them a picture of Bearclaw and Irontail complete with some parts of calligraphy. There was a large message showing two cats on the front; it read:

_Our leader Darkstar orders the arrest of Irontail and Bearclaw, the two rebellious traitors. General Irontail was once the Griffin of the West. Bearclaw was Crown Prince to Darkstar. Both traitors disobeyed imperial orders to eliminate the WaterClan savages as well as capture the Avatar Cat. Permission is granted to slay them on sight._

Then she announced angrily, "Any cat caught giving these two Clan rogues shelter will face the anger of Darkstar, leader of FireClan, and they will be killed!" Sneering at the cats' cowering, she looked up at the sky and growled under her breath, she hissed, "There shall be no more places to hide..."

**...**

Bearclaw and Irontail sprinted down a path, pausing at a small body of water at the side of the river. They collapsed onto their sides, gasping for breath.

"I...I think we lost them..." Irontail rasped, panting heavily because of his weight.

Bearclaw looked down into the water and murmured, "Then our lives as rogues begin."

Unsheathing his claws, he reached into a red bag and pulled out a long dagger with some kind of writing on it. Irontail looked shocked, but even he seemed to know what his dark tabby nephew seemed to be doing.

Bearclaw tossed the dagger to his uncle while bringing his claws to his face and clawed away at his head fur until some standard black fur showed up on top of his head. Irontail did the same thing with the dagger and his fur around his head looked shorter. The two FireClan cats looked over at the river as the extra fur floated down the river while the petals floated down around them.

Their lives as rogues...had begun.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Sorry about the long wait, everyone! I just had to make some readjustments here and there, as well as adding some new stuff here and there.**

**Katara: (Smiles at him) It's okay.**

**Aang: Yeah. Great things don't always have to be hurried.**

**AvatarCat12: You've been ordering fortune cookies, right?**

**Aang: (Shrugs slightly) ...maybe.**

**Katara: That's it, Aang. No more fortune cookies for you. I better go ahead and say the review stuff and the preview for The Cave Of Two Lovers. (To the readers) To those who review this first episode of the new season, you'll get a virtual Goldwing or Bearclaw plush doll. Flames will be put out with WaterBending or EarthBending. We allow constructive criticism, but we do not welcome harsh criticizing.**

**Preview: Goldwing and his friends encounter a group of hippies who tell of a legend of a cave built by two star-crossed lovers. But as they hear more of this, Goldwing's crush towards Silverheart grows even more. Meanwhile, Irontail gets poisoned, so Bearclaw gets him to a medicine cat who sees the world in a different view.**

**All three: See ya next time! And Happy early St. Patrick's Day!**


	3. Cave Of Two Lovers

**AvatarCat12: I'm sorry if I've been neglecting my stories lately. I've just been distracted by lots of things lately, that's all. I've been absent-minded.**

**Aang: Hey, it's all right, Avatar Cat. I can get absent-minded too!**

**Katara: He's right. You should see how he acts on our travels. By the way, are you really bringing back Can You Feel The Love Tonight?**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. But this will be the early version. They were gonna put it in the movie at first, but they decided against it, though I don't know why. It was awesome!**

**Aang: Yeah. Katara and I love this song. But if it's okay, I'll go ahead from here.**

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats do not belong to AvatarCat12. Neither does the early version of Can You Feel The Love Tonight; it's owned by The Lion King, which is owned by Disney.**

**Summary: Goldwing and his friends encounter a group of hippies who tell of a legend of a cave built by two ill-fated lovers. But as they hear more of this, Goldwing's crush towards Silverheart grows even more. Meanwhile, Irontail gets poisoned, so Bearclaw gets him to a medicine cat who sees the world in a different view.**

**Updating Date: March 19, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_Cave of Two Lovers_

After the incident with Birchbark, Goldwing and his small pack had traveled to a cliff with lots of vegetation and a large pool of water. The pool of water was at the bottom of the cliff, and they had decided to take a short swim before heading on to MudClan. Goldwing just couldn't wait to see his old friend, Rockstar, again.

Anyhow, Goldwing and Silverheart decided to practice their WaterBending, facing each other in front of an arc hollow of stone that stuck out from the cliff wall. Meanwhile, Ashfeather made himself a tiny boat for himself and was floating along indolently at the waves. Lastly, Tobias had flown over to the dark gray tabby with a fish in his talons, showing that there was some fish in the water.

Goldwing felt hot under his fur when he saw stray pieces of fur falling from Silverheart's long silky pelt and into the water. She was finally shedding her winter coat at last, and she wasn't the only one; Ashfeather was the heaviest shedder since he was the tallest cat in the small pack. ...or he could shed like the moose that was grazing nearby.

"Hey guys!" Ashfeather called out lazily. "When the hell are you two gonna be done? We gotta get to MudClan before dusk!"

Silverheart dropped her Bending stance and slouched over at her littermate's meow. She turned to face him with an arched eyebrow and retorted jokingly, "So you're all ready to go now, you big ol' musk ox?"

Ashfeather gave her a weird look as he replied, "Come on! I bet you six mouse tails that I get ready in two minutes! Seriously!" But he just gave a sigh and rolled over in his boat, muttering idly, "I'll get up whenever."

Both young warriors purred before Goldwing spoke up. "So you were showing me the octopus form?" he meowed.

"Yes!" Silverheart purred. "Let's see your stance."

Goldwing did just that by standing on his hind paws, showing her the best way he could get into that position. Silverheart got up from her spot and waded over to the golden AirClan cat so that she could judge his stance. But what she did next made him blush: she was prodding him all over his stance joints while standing behind him.

The silver WaterClan she-cat meowed gently to him, "Your front legs are too far apart. If you move them together like this," she went on, taking his front paws into hers and showed him how to do it, "then you'll protect your chest from any attack! You got it?"

"Huh?" Goldwing wasn't paying attention, for he was relishing in the beautiful silver she-cat standing this close to him, her pelt brushing against his. Then he meowed uneasily "Um...yeah. I got it."

His WaterClan crush dropped her hold and swam back to her former position. She turned around to face him once again in a Bending stance. Her pretty dark blue eyes sparkled with playfulness, and he almost melted in her gaze.

"Now let's see what you got!" her meow made him focus on his task.

Goldwing gave a nod to her before sitting down in the quite shallow water. He raised his right front paw into the air and some water rose into the air. Then he finished up with pulling up a large splash of water. With a smooth motion, he caused the blob to sprout around eight wide tentacles.

Silverheart began to rapid fire icicles at him from her claws, but the first one was grabbed and deflected in above the water by one of Goldwing's water tentacles. After more were deflected, Silverheart spread her forelegs apart and raised some water from the river before freezing it and throwing it at her friend. Goldwing dodged them very well and used one of the tentacles to wrap itself around Silverheart's front leg.

She looked slightly surprised as Goldwing's water tentacle grabbed her left front leg and yanked tight. Then she straightened herself up, tossed her head back to shake water out of her head fur, and smiled as she addressed the Avatar Cat.

"You make a fine octopus, my apprentice," she purred, dipping her head to him.

Goldwing purred in reply before covering himself in the bubble of water, his front paws and, consequently, his tentacles waving lazily around him. He was clearly having fun imitating an octopus. He couldn't wait for another battle (he thought reluctantly), for he could show her how well he learned of this technique.

Ashfeather looked over his shoulder at them and Tobias, who rested on the dark gray tabby tom's head, cawed happily. But before Silverheart's littermate could remark on Goldwing's new move, a sweet sound was ringing out. It sounded like tuneful instruments playing, and there was a singing voice:

"_Don't fall in love with a traveling girl._

_She'll leave you broke and broken hearted…"_

Finally, the three Clan warriors (and even the moose) looked up to see the owners of the noise. Somewhere along the path to the beach within the forest, a pack of nomadic cats robed in lively mix of Asian and Polynesian styles were padding by, playing instruments and singing. A brown-&-cream tabby tomcat carrying an instrument in his front paw and wearing a wreath of flowers on his neck had been singing softly.

Two other cats joined up with him; the first cat to join up with him were a pale gray she-cat with a black-&-pink robe around her body, a flower on her ear and playing a flute. And the second cat was a chubby black tom with a robe of white-&-pink and a coolie hat and playing a drum.

Suddenly, while the three warriors and the moose watched them approach, Ashfeather's leaf boat flipped over and the dark gray tabby tom rose from the water, sputtering for a gasp breath. Then Ashfeather shook his pelt and the moose seemed to be laughing at him before plodding off into the woods. The WaterClan warrior just growled and climbed back onto land.

The three traveling cats stopped singing, and the brown-&-cream tabby tom looked over at the warriors. He pointed his tail to them and called, "Heh-hey, man! Look! RiverClan cats, dudes!"

"Um...we're not RiverClan cats," Silverheart spoke up, shaking her head in. "But my brother and I are RiverClan descendants!" Then she looked over to where Ashfeather had recovered from his swim and Tobias had landed on his head.

"Oh..." the brown tabby meowed. But then he meowed, "Well...what kind of feline dudes and dudette are you?"

Goldwing glanced at his companions and replied to the tabby, "Um...we're just Clan cats."

The brown tabby tom chuckled, for he seemed very impressed. Then he replied, "Oh, aren't we all Clanmates, brother! But we've heard about those Clan cats!"

A warning growl made Goldwing and Silverheart look over at Ashfeather as the older WaterClan warrior was standing face-to-face with the loner. Goldwing knew Ashfeather didn't like strangers too much, and he knew that ever since Ashfeather chased him away from WaterClan when they were apprentices. But that was because they hadn't been friends at first.

"Who the hell are you?" Ashfeather hissed, his wet fur bristling.

"Oh...that," the tabby purred. "Name's Shaggy. This is my mate and her name's Fang Yin." He kinked his tail over to the pale gray she-cat, who nodded happily to them. "And this here is our friend, Shaiming!" The fat black cat gave a cheerful wave with his tail. "We're all nomads happy to go where the wind goes!"

At that, he riffed on his guitar like a musician for a moment, his voice not matching the various random notes he played.

"Oh, you're nomads?" Goldwing purred, his tail waving back and forth. "We're nomads, too!"

"So are we!" Shaggy meowed happily.

Goldwing just gave him a weird look as he muttered, "Um...you just said that."

Shaggy shook his thick brown-&-cream tabby head as he replied, "I get it." Then, looking over at Ashfeather, who was crouching near the river and pointing his rear at him (for he was fishing) he gave a loud laugh. "Dude! I can see your balls!"

**(Author's note: I'm sorry, but I LOVED to do that!)**

Goldwing and Silverheart purred with amusement as Ashfeather's pale blue eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. Hearing that, he slunk away, blushing while his tail was between his legs. Tobias followed him, his green eyes sparkling with laughter as he cawed happily, which was a hawk's way of laughing.

**...**

Irontail continued his observing of a pretty white and red flower. He was trying to make together a new cream combination, but since there were no cows, he had to use some moose milk. He and Bearclaw were camping in the middle of a green forest as petals fell around him, making him look very wise indeed.

_Is this plant good to eat? Or is it poisonous?_

A growl of frustration made the fat gray tabby tomcat look up. Bearclaw had just leaped after a straying rabbit, but he missed the fast animal. The small brown rabbit leaped out from his claws and leaped out of the bushes, Bearclaw glaring after it.

Looking over at Irontail, he snarled in a frustrated way, "I can't find anything to eat out here, and the prey's too hard to catch!" He gave the dirt a clawing before growling, "Son of a bitch! I don't have any rogue blood! This is too impossible!"

Irontail didn't reply, but he did sniff at the flower a little.

"Um..." the dark brown tabby rogue gave him a confused look. "What are you doing, Uncle?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Irontail purred, turning to his nephew. "What you're looking at is the very rare white tiger flower!" He sniffed again and purred lovingly, "Together with cream, it makes a cream so delicious that it's heartbreaking!" Then he sniffed again and went on more seriously, "It's either that, or it's the poisonous white emerald flower."

Bearclaw rolled his eyes and growled, "We need fresh-kill, not some damn cream!" Giving a sigh, he muttered, "Never mind. I'm going fishing...though I have no WaterClan blood." Then he padded off.

Free to observe the flower once again, Irontail looked back to the flower, crouched down beside it, and continued to observe it. And he had a question to ask himself:

"Is it a delicious drink or a deadly poison?" he muttered to himself. "Hmmm..."

**...**

Goldwing saw that Archie looked relaxed when he had small pink flowers spotted all over his white pelt. The Asian Lung Dragon gave a groan of joy as he rolled around to lie on his belly; he was lying down on the beach in front of the river. Everyone but Ashfeather was either lying on or close to Archie listening to Shaggy play his instrument.

Ashfeather himself approached from the river with a fish in his jaws. He probably spent his given free time fishing and hunting instead of relaxing.

"Hey, Ashfeather!" Goldwing called. "Sit and listen to these cool stories! These guys know how to tell good stories! They're been everywhere!"

"Well..." Shaggy meowed as he stopped playing his instrument. "Not always everywhere, Little Arrow Dude. But we learn of new places and new friends through song! We don't always have to be at the place!"

As Ashfeather raised a brow in suspicion, Goldwing added, "Yeah! And Shaggy says we get to see a Kraken!"

Shaiming gave a purr, rolled over onto his back, and meowed dreamily, "I agree, little man! And on the way, there's a huge waterfall that creates an eternal rainbow! It's so awesome!"

Now what Ashfeather seemed to hear maybe ticked him off; he didn't believe in anything else besides Clan life and StarClan. Goldwing could tell that he was remembering Aunt Wu, the old brown tabby she-cat who had been known to be a fortuneteller. That had been quite annoying.

His fur bristling, the WaterClan tom growled firmly, "Guys, I really hate to rain on your parade, but since Silverheart's so busy there, it's up to me!" Silverheart, whose long glossy fur was being braided by Fang Yin, glared irately at her brother at that. "We need to get over to MudClan with no pit stops, no giant squid, and no rainbows!"

"Whoa, man..." Shaggy meowed, looking at him with a wistful look. "Methinks you've got a big case of destination fever! Dude, you're worrying too much about the going and not the doing."

"That's what we do!" his mate piped up when she finished braiding Silverheart's pelt. "If we were you, we'd focus more on the 'going' more than on the 'where.'"

"I'm talking about MUD. CLAN," Ashfeather replied uncaringly. His narrow face got further distended and exaggerated with each syllable until his warped features almost made Goldwing flinch.

Silverheart sat up until she was resting her shoulder on Archie's coat. "He's right. We gotta get to Rockstar so he can teach Goldwing EarthBending. That way, he'll have a way to learn safely."

Shaggy gave a warm chuckle as he purred, "Well, it looks like you're going to MudClan, man!" Ashfeather gave a groan at that. "We've heard stories of a secret pass to MudClan. You gotta go through some tunnels...through the mountains!" he added ominously.

Silverheart gave him a skeptical look as she asked, "So is it real or a legend?"

"Oh, it's a real legend, all right!" the shaggy brown tabby tom. "And that tale is as old as the founder Earth herself!"

Immediately, he sat up and began playing on his guitar-like instrument. The two cats joined in playing with him as Goldwing and Silverheart listened happily to the music. Then Shaggy began singing:

"_Two lovers, forbidden by one another..._

_A war divides their people..._

_And a mountain divides them apart..._

_Built a path to be together..._

"Uh, I forgot the other lines, but then it goes like this." At this, he began singing heartily as the other cats, except for Ashfeather, danced and enjoyed the song.

_"Secret tunnel!_

_Secret tunnel!_

_Through the mountain!_

_Secret, secret, secret, secret TUNNEL!_

_Yeah!"_

Everyone enjoyed the song except for Ashfeather, who looked angry and miserable. On the last note, Shaggy concluded his chord with a flourish that left his left front paw pointed to the sky in a gesture of triumph. His audience, except for Ashfeather again, cheered for him enthusiastically. Goldwing heard lots of songs before, but this one was probably one of the best he ever heard.

"Sorry, but we're better off flying," the dark gray tabby tom spoke up. "Besides, we've dealt with FireClan before as apprentices and we'll do that again."

Goldwing agreed with Ashfeather; they have fought against Bearclaw, a FireClan warrior who had always chased them. So he nodded in agreement and dipped his head to the three hippie cats. "Thanks for the entertainment. But Archie hates going underground, and we gotta make him calm. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

**...**

_Okay. THAT was bad._

Goldwing winced as he tried to lick some blood off a big wound on his shoulder. The Avatar Cat, Silverheart, and Ashfeather had tried to go through by flying, but they were spotted by a FireClan patrol. A dark gray tabby-&-white FireClan Commander was in front of two long lines of FireClan catapults. Archie flew around to reveal that there were even more catapults in the surrounding area of the cliffs.

"Launch!" the Commander had yowled in a manner a bit like Thornflare, the former FireClan deputy. He was also the commander after the now-dead dark brown tomcat had been announced as the deputy.

All the catapults fired almost simultaneously. Archie was still in mid flight, fireballs closing in around him. The white-furred Asian Lung Dragon opened his wide mouth to grunt and he went on dodging the fireballs. The three warriors had just escaped with battle scars and ashes in their fur, screeching for their lives.

Then the three warriors padded over to Shaggy and his band, who were sitting on a log in the forest next to the same moose. Goldwing had a scar on his shoulder, Silverheart's ear was torn again since training, and Ashfeather was missing several clumps of fur from his flank.

"Aw, shit," Ashfeather was muttering unhappily. "All right, let's go to that secret love cave of yours."

**...**

As Bearclaw dragged his fresh-kill down onto the ground, he glared down at it with disgust. He had managed to catch a fish like he had promised, but like he said, he had no WaterClan blood in him. The dark brown tabby cat had caught a fish that was big enough for a cat to eat, but it wasn't enough to fill up the bellies of _two_ cats.

While the trout flailed pitifully, Bearclaw bit into the back of its neck, and it dropped dead to the ground. Then he picked it up by the tail in his jaws and padded over to his uncle, who was still at the plant.

"Bearclaw..." Irontail was murmuring with fatigue. "Remember what I told you about the plant that I thought could be made in cream?"

Bearclaw didn't need to see, but he already knew what was going to happen.

"Oh, shit!" he moaned with shock. "You did NOT!"

Irontail nodded, muttered, "Oh, yes. I did," and turned around to meow, "And it wasn't."

Bearclaw recoiled, let out a yowl of repulsion at the look on his uncle's face, and fought the urge to throw up. The fat gray tabby tom's flat face was now swollen and red with soreness with a severe rash, and he was scratching his face. Never before had he ever seen a cat like this before.

"When this rash spreads down to my throat, I will stop breathing, for my throat will be swollen, and I will die." Irontail was meowing this calmly as he scratched. But he pawed a big pink berry forward to him and added excitedly, "Well, I found this! This is a Pecha Berry; it is known to heal any kind of poison! It's either that or a foxglove berry, which causes blindness."

"No way!" Bearclaw growled, using his claws to slice the berry up and losing patience. "We're not medicine cats; we can't survive on plants alone! Besides, we're carnivores! Now we need to find some help for you."

Irontail began scratching his ear and whined, "But where can we go in this condition? We're enemies of EarthClan, and we're rogues of FireClan!"

Bearclaw knew that his uncle was right, so he sat down and began to think. He wasn't one to get along with EarthClan cats, and he was sure to be a true enemy of FireClan; Frostfire had made sure this would happen, he thought bitterly. But Irontail needed help right away or he would die from this rash.

He twitched his remaining ear, since the other was torn off by the Avatar Cat, and muttered, "If an EarthClan cat finds us in this territory, other cats will come here and kill us."

"But if a _Fire_Clan cat finds us in this territory, other cats will come here and hand us over to Frostfire," Irontail replied, still scratching.

That made Bearclaw stop twitching his ear; he sure didn't want his sister to claim victory of killing him.

"...EarthClan it is, then," he finally meowed to his uncle before they padded off together.

**...**

Archie, the small pack of warriors, and Shaggy's group were padding along a wide street lined with what look like the ruins of temples. Goldwing remembered being near some temples when Silverheart and Ashfeather had become sick with greencough and were given frozen toads to suck on. He still purred about that memory.

"Okay, how soon are we gonna reach this damn tunnel?" Ashfeather groused as he stalked beside his friends.

Shaggy looked over his shoulder while padding up ahead and replied, "Well...it's actually not just one tunnel, man. The two ill-fated lovers didn't want other cats to find out about their forbidden relationship, so they built a whole maze underground!"

The dark gray tabby tomcat turned to face the others in a pose of horror, his fur bristling and his ears pulled back with fright.

"A MAZE?"

"Eh, we'll figure it out," Shaggy meowed, shrugging before padding up to his fellow travelers again. That made Ashfeather sigh, turn around, and pad after the other cats, though Goldwing could see an exhausted look in his pale blue eyes.

Fang Yin turned around to explain, "All that you need to do is trust in love. It's what the curse says."

At this, Ashfeather stopped walking, standing bolt upright with his tail straight in the air. Then, as the others passed him, he let out one big exasperated "_CURSE?_"

**...**

As the cats regrouped together and after they had a bit of fresh-kill to eat, the six cats went on their way until they reached the end of the path. They just stopped in front of the moss-covered entrance to a large tunnel in the cliff face. The two packs of cats stood in front of it. The tunnel was so large that even Archie could easily be contained in such a dark place.

"Hey-hey!" Shaggy cheered, wagging his tail. "We're here!"

He padded up to a small memorial with some kind of writing on the wall of the cave entrance. Ashfeather joined up with him, looking suspicious as usual.

"So...what's this curse, anyways?" he growled.

Shaggy purred as he padded away from him to join up with his mate and Shaiming. Then the brown-&-cream tabby tomcat explained, "According to legend, the curse says that cats who can trust in love can make it through these tunnels. If not, well...you'll be trapped in them forever."

"And die," Fang Yin added.

"Oh, yeah. That's right. And die." Then Shaggy's yellowish-brown eyes began glowing as if he remembered something. "Oh yeah! NOW I remember the rest of the song! Here's how it goes!" Then he went up to the entrance, plucked a chord on his guitar, and sung low and dramatically:

"_And die!"_

A few seconds passed, then...

"Okay! That does it!" Ashfeather spat as he made his way up to the front. Shoving his narrow muzzle in the hippies' direction, he snarled angrily, "Listen, you! There is NO way in Hell we're gonna go strolling around in some damn cursed hole!"

But before Silverheart could scold her littermate, she let out a yowl of anxiety and the other cats turned to see what she and Tobias were. Behind them in the distance, a streak of shady smoke curled towards the heavens. Shaiming and the other hippie cats turned around to see the smoke.

"Look, everyone!" the fat black tom purred cheerfully. "Someone's making a campfire!"

"Oh, that's no campfire!" Silverheart hissed with fear.

Ashfeather's pale blue eyes narrowed with suspicion and anger as he lifted his muzzle into the air and sniffed. With a growl, he grunted, "FireClan! They must've followed us!"

While looking at the smoke, Goldwing wanted to take some tension off of the situation, and he knew just the thing. The thing was that he was afraid that he could get the wrong answer. So he looked over his shoulder to Shaggy with an uncertain look on his face.

"So we just trust in love to get through the tunnels?" he asked the hippie cat.

"That's right, brother!" Shaggy purred.

With a nod, Goldwing turned around to look toward Silverheart. Her long silvery-gray fur was flowing gently in the breeze and her dark blue eyes were filled with concern. Goldwing realized with widened gray eyes that she looked so beautiful right now. He had realized that, while during his traveling, that he wondered if he was in love with the WaterClan she-cat.

_I am! I AM in love with Silverheart! _Goldwing realized with admiration as he continued to stare at the silvery-gray WaterClan warrior. _With love, we can get through together! I gotta find the right time to tell her!_

"We'll make it! StarClan will make sure of that!" he purred to Shaggy, purring.

But before the brown tabby hippie cat could answer, Ashfeather unexpectedly darted forward, grabbed Goldwing by the scruff, and began hauling him away from the light. Goldwing knew what his friend was doing, although he wished that he had been warned. This was quite

"Guys! Get in there! Hurry!" Ashfeather yowled though a mouthful of fur.

The cats didn't need to be told a second time; in a minute, all six cats made their way slowly into the tunnel, Archie groaning in protest but still following. Tobias flew ahead of them, his feathers quivering with shock as he flew in. When they got in, Goldwing turned to see two FireClan tanks arriving at the entrance of the cave. They were too big to follow them, but those cannons sure did spell trouble.

The dark gray tabby chief, who had attacked the three Clan warriors before, halted in front of the cave and turned to his warriors. "Halt!" he was hissing. "Surely you must've heard that song! That sure scares the fur off my ass!"

Then, flicking his ears flippantly at the cave, he meowed, "Eh. Just cave 'em in. The mountain will take care of 'em!"

The canister containing the projectile grappling hooks rotated upward; Goldwing recalled seeing those from the northern AirClan camp. The tanks fired their grappling hooks into the top of the tunnel and pulled down a large amount of rock, completely blocking the entrance. The pack of cats turned around in horror as the cave entrance collapsed.

_We're trapped!_

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

While Goldwing shook at the thought of being trapped (for he was used to wide open spaces), Archie reared up onto his hind legs and frantically scraped at the caved-in wall. He brought his claws down on the wall, roaring with fear and trying to get out. Goldwing felt guilty at feeling selfish at wanting to get out.

"Shhh," Silverheart was purring sensitively to Archie, pressing her silver fur to his white pelt. "We'll be fine. ...I hope so..." she added with less confidence in her voice.

Meanwhile, Goldwing turned around to see Ashfeather stand next to Shaggy with a serious look in his pale blue eyes. The Avatar Cat hoped that he wouldn't scoff at Shaggy for believing in nursery tales. But instead, he had another look in his eyes: resolve.

The dark gray tabby tom meowed, "Guys, we WILL be fine; we just need a plan! So Shaggy," he meowed to the brown tabby hippie, "how long do those torches last?"

"Uh...two hours each," Shaggy replied.

"And we have five torches to take with us," Fang Yin spoke up, reaching her front paw into a large bag hung around her neck. Then she took out the other four torches she held and struck them on the ground like matches, lighting them instantly, "Then that means we get five hours!"

To Goldwing's confusion, Ashfeather gave a sigh and snatched the torches out of the pale gray she-cat's grasp. Then, to his horror, the WaterClan warrior stomped out the flames on the torches. Goldwing almost felt angry and almost struck him on the face just like he did when he received a yelling from Ashfeather when they were apprentices. But he made himself forget it, although he felt that he took away their chance of getting out faster.

"Dammit! If they're all lit all at once, it won't work!" the dark gray tabby tomcat growled after he stomped out the flames. Then he stomped out his own, making the female loner say something in a spaced-out voice.

Anyways, Ashfeather started to make some scrapes on the stones with his claws as he meowed, "So I'll make a map in a little bit so we can keep track at where we're going? Then we'll solve this maze as easy as getting a fish out of water!"

With a nod, all the other cats padded down the tunnels, and Goldwing felt coldness seep into his skin. But it wasn't the only thing that bothered him at all. In fact, the only other thing that made him afraid was that he had heard of cats dying in tunnels. Fallen Leaves of the Ancient Clans and Hollyleaf of ThunderClan had disappeared in them.

Goldwing had heard of the tunnels that had run between ThunderClan and WindClan; that was the reason why the Day of the Dark Sun had appeared. After Hollyleaf had told all the Clans her secret, she had fled into the tunnels and it blocked her way out; it took her a while to get back to the Clans. Now HE was afraid they were all going to disappear into the tunnels.

**...**

Hoping to find help for Irontail, Bearclaw brought his ill uncle over to a very small EarthClan village with a small lake nearby. The dark brown tabby tom had known from his gray tabby mentor that there were cats that were not medicine cats but they were skilled with the arts of medicine. So this was the only place they had to go for the time being.

Anyways, he had hauled his fat gray tabby uncle into the nearby treatment center, where Irontail was accepted into treatment by a very pretty tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat with bright green eyes and a green robe wrapped around her body. She had started treating Irontail's rash with some burdock root; it appeared that it wasn't only used to cure rat bites.

Irontail was totally covered with the red rash from eating the white jade flower. The young calico she-cat applied a liquidized burdock root lotion to the rash, smearing it over his body. Bearclaw, meanwhile, was sitting right behind the young she-cat on the wooden floor, a sort-of sombrero hat obscuring his face as he looked toward the floor.

"I assume you two don't live around here?" the she-cat asked in a sweet voice. "Every cat in this village knows better than to bother the white tiger flower. In fact, we don't mix it with cream and drink it!" she added, purring playfully as she worked.

Irontail just rubbed the back of his head with his front paw as he awkwardly mumbled a quick apology.

The tortoiseshell purred, "It's okay! So where do you two come from?"

Not wanting to let Irontail speak about t FireClan patrols finding them, he stood up quickly as she turned to look at him. Bearclaw had to admit that her eyes were very pretty, but he shook himself to not let himself be twitter-pated.

"Uh...we're travelers!" he spoke up. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you have names?" the tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat asked the two toms.

Bearclaw looked at her as if she sprouted large dove's wings. "Names?" he mewed hesitantly.

She nodded.

"Oh, names! That's right! Yep, we have names! Well...my name is...uh...Moss! And my uncle's name is...um...Warthog?"

But once Bearclaw finished introducing himself and his uncle, Irontail looked over the she-cat's shoulder to give him an unhappy glare. The young dark tabby knew that he had insulted his uncle with the name Warthog. On bad days, he could be a tiny bit sensitive about his weight.

"Ah, that is my name!" Irontail told the young pretty queen. Then he gave his nephew a facetious look before looking back at her. "Moss is also the name of my cherished youthful nephew's father, but we just call him Junior!"

At that, Irontail looked over the queen's shoulder in a smirking way at "Junior," who unsheathed his claws at the name his uncle has just bestowed onto him. _Why in the name of StarClan did he have to give me a stupid name?_ But at least he had gotten some dirt onto Irontail.

"Warthog and Junior, eh? Sounds like a pawful!" the she-cat purred as she continued working on Irontail's rashes. "Let me give you my name: my name is Song. And you two must be starving; it looks like you ate only fish! No scratching!" she kindly scolded Irontail as she cuffed his paw for scratching. "So how about you stick around for dinner?"

Irontail's amber eyes were glowing with joy at the thought of eating some good food. However, Bearclaw knew that this was a bad idea. Sure, they could go for some real food, but they had to leave so that FireClan could not pursue them and give them to Frostfire.

"No, thank you," Bearclaw finally meowed as he stood up. "I'm sorry, but we need to leave."

Song purred sweetly, her pretty green eyes shining, as she purred, "Aww, that's too bad, Moss! My mom does catch a lot of chickens, and we make fried chicken! You should try it sometime!"

To Bearclaw's irritation, Irontail slid up beside the two other cats with a hopeful look on his flat face. His amber eyes were shining and his shaggy tail was wagging with great delight; Bearclaw knew that his uncle was a big eater.

"Where do you live, exactly?"

**...**

"Aw shit, Ashfeather!" Silverheart groaned as her brother prodded his paw at the map constantly. "You've led us to the tenth dead end today!"

But Ashfeather didn't listen to his Clanmate's complaining; Goldwing knew this was because he was just focusing on the map. But there was a scent of confusion around his pelt, and his tail tip was twitching with worry.

Finally, he spoke, "Huh! That's weird! We already came to this path! I thought I just clawed that rock a while ago!" His tail twitched more as he went on studying the map he had made up.

"We don't need a map, dude," Shaggy spoke up, padding up next to the dark gray tabby. "All we need is love. That little man knows it already!" he added, pointing his tail at the Avatar Cat, who felt that what he had meant earlier wasn't to be taken literally.

Then Goldwing felt like he had the guts to meow loudly, "Actually, no offense, but I wouldn't mind having a map of my own." He expected the hippie cats to complain, but they just nodded at him and then gave each other confused glances.

"I knew it!" Ashfeather's meow made all the other cats, Tobias, and Archie look at him. He had a look of fear and realization in his pale blue eyes as he announced, "I think I know what the hell's going on. And there can be only one explanation: the tunnels are changing even as we speak."

A low rumble throughout the tunnel startled all of the cats into looking up. The tunnels did seem to change, and this made Goldwing remind himself more of the tunnels between ThunderClan and WindClan. He hoped there wasn't a roaring river underground or they would all drown...but Silverheart could help them, thanks to training from Snowstorm.

**...**

It was night, and Bearclaw and Irontail were sitting outside in the grass at Song's nest. It seemed to the dark brown tabby tom that because Irontail's rash was gone, he was no longer itching like crazy. Soon, Song and her mother had set up a knee high, Asian table and Song's mother (a middle-aged pale brown tabby she-cat) came to the table with a plate of fried chicken.

As the cats began to eat, Song's mother chewed on a chicken bone as she meowed contentedly, "My daughter tells me you two are loners passing through this territory. We're loners too, though we used to be Clan warriors. Song herself was once named Songflight."

"It's true," Song meowed quietly, and her cheerfulness had faded away because of something. Then she meowed, "When I was a kit, FireClan warriors attacked our small village, and almost all of the toms were taken away. My father, a warrior named Beechpelt, was one of those cats taken away. That was the last time I ever saw him," she added sadly, lowering her eyes.

Bearclaw's golden eyes (even the nearly bad one) widened with shock at this revelation. That just reminded him of his father, Darkstar, except that Darkstar wasn't a kind and caring cat. While he was still thinking of his father, he lowered his eyes and shoved away the pile of chicken bones.

"I haven't seen my father for moons either," he murmured.

Song's green eyes darkened with shame and sadness as she whispered, "Oh. Is he...fighting in the Great War?"

Irontail had just finished slurping up a mouthful of noodles as he looked with some nervousness at his nephew to see how he would answer this dangerous question. If Bearclaw let something slip about the FireClan leader, he and his uncle would be chased out. So he rested his left front paw on the table and made his reply:

"Yes," he mewed as he looked away.

**...**

Back at the tunnels, the three Clan warriors weren't freaking out, but they were still scared about the tunnels moving around. The three hippie cats were also scared as they looked around them nervously. But Shaggy was the one who looked the most worried, for he was prancing around on his hind legs, and his eyes were twitching.

"The tunnels...oh, they're a-changin'!" he was groaning. "Aw man, it must be that curse! It IS true! We shouldn't have come here!"

Ashfeather rolled his eyes and retorted sarcastically, "Oh sure. If only we listened to you-"

"Shh!" Silverheart hissed as her ears twitched around. "Be quiet! I think I heard something!"

Some kind of fluttering sounds were heard in the darkness ahead. Rapidly, Tobias lifted himself off of Ashfeather's shoulder and flew into the darkness. Goldwing could barely see Ashfeather squinting into the darkness and stared up ahead right toward the source of the flapping sound.

There was a few seconds of silence...and then...it happened.

Suddenly, to Goldwing's fright, a large vampire bat flew at Ashfeather, but the dark gray tabby tom ducked just in time while yowling of surprise. Meanwhile, the vampire bat began circling around above the cats' heads; the hippie cats probably hadn't seen it before.

"Oh no!" Shaggy wailed as the bat flew over his head. "It's a cave demon!"

"No! It's a vampire bat!" Shaiming wailed with fear as the black tom ducked from the diving bat.

The bat landed on its legs and thumbs, and it folded its wings. After snarling a bit, it launched back into the air and flew over the heads of the group. Ashfeather tried to take a swipe at it with his claws, but he failed. When Shaggy dropped his torch by mistake, Archie got his feet burned and stampeded around in the tunnel.

Finally the bat knocked the torch out of Ashfeather's jaws, sailed through the air, and landed on Archie's claw. The Asian Lung Dragon reared up and bellowed in pain, his legs thrashing about. He dashed around in anguish, hitting the cave walls and causing a cave in. As the roof began to collapse, Goldwing sent a blast of air to get Shaggy, Ashfeather, and the others out the falling debris' way.

Then he turns to see Silverheart frozen in fear as the rocks falling toward her. He didn't want to lose her because he wanted to tell her how he felt. So he leaped forward and tackled Silverheart to the ground to protect her. When the dust settled, Goldwing realized what had just happened.

He, Silverheart, and Archie were now separated from Ashfeather and the others.

**...**

Ashfeather couldn't believe it; no matter how much he told himself this couldn't have happened, it was no use. His dear sister and the Avatar Cat were trapped on the other side. So he ran over to the rockslide, unsheathed his claws, and began digging hysterically.

"Yep, it's no use," Shaggy meowed calmly; he seemed to already recover from the shock of the attacking vampire bat. "We're really trapped now. But don't worry, man. At least now you got us three!" He began chuckling meekly as if expecting a reaction from the WaterClan warrior.

Ashfeather couldn't believe that either. He froze for just a moment as this statement sunk in, and then, he unleashed a howl of despair. "_Noooooooo! Silverheart! Goldwing! Archie! I'm coming for ya, buddies!"_

Ignoring the blood seeping from around his claws, Ashfeather resumed his frantic digging to reach his pack. But as he dug harder, he had caused a little cave-in and he got more frustrated. Being with these three cats was much worse than having to listen to the fortuneteller, Aunt Wu, he thought.

**...**

Bearclaw looked around at the fireflies fluttering around and glowing in the night sky, and he could see a pinto mare pawing the ground with her hoof while tied to a post. Being around nature lifted his mood, but he couldn't get over the fact that Song had lost her father in the War. He just gave a sigh and began licking his paw, washing it clean.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening made Bearclaw turn around; Song had just exited out from her nest and sat down beside him. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all. I can't sit on my ass alone."

Not paying attention to his bad language, the tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat scooted closer to him until their pelts brushed. His thick dark brown tabby coat against her smooth tortoiseshell fur. He wasn't ready to take a mate yet, not now while he was on the run from FireClan as a rogue, not a loner.

"I...I understand what you've been through," Song murmured as she looked into his eyes once again. When Bearclaw twitched his remaining ear to show he was listening, she went on, "We cats have been though a lot of this stupid war. And I can see that FireClan had hurt you too."

She reached forward and licked his ear, but Bearclaw felt a little disturbed when her tongue got nearer to his eye scar. He had never allowed anyone to groom his scar or even try and heal it. So when Song leaned forward to lick his scar, Bearclaw growled a little and scooted away from her while looking at the garden again.

Realizing her mistake, Song meowed, "It's okay, Moss. I've been hurt by FireClan too. Look."

She reached around at the sash of her robe and let it fall to the ground. What Bearclaw saw made him shocked and very sympathetic: Song was a very pretty she-cat indeed, but there was a very ugly red FireBending scar running from her right shoulder to her right forepaw.

He looked up at her, shock filling his mind like a gentle stream. Bearclaw never knew that the Great War was like this: hurting innocent cats along with vile and vicious cats like Frostfire or Thornflare. He knew what it was like to be scorched, but this was by his own father when he had disobeyed orders in front of him.

So he reached forward and licked her ears comfortingly. Bearclaw could hear her purring as his tongue ran over her face as gentle as the wind.

**...**

"_Don't let the cave-in get you down._

_Don't let the falling stones turn your smile into a frown._

_When the tunnels are darkest, that's when you need a clown, hey!_

_Don't let the cave-in get you down, Ashfeather!"_

Ashfeather was leading the three hippie cats through the caverns, but he scowled when they began singing their stupid songs. At the last line, he glared to one side at Shaggy, who was now obviously singing to the dour WaterClan warrior.

_These guys are pissing me off!_

**...**

After being unconscious for a few minutes, Goldwing woke up to find himself right on top of Silverheart, who was starting to wake up. The golden AirClan tom felt his pelt go hot when he found out that his nose was pressed against hers. His paws were pinning down hers, and his weight was pinning her down to the dirt.

_Can you feel the love tonight?_

_Won't you stay to see?_

_Stealing through the night's uncertainties_

_A truth for you and me._

She began to wake up, and Goldwing couldn't help but feel very captivated at the very sight of her. Silverheart was opening her blue eyes as she stared up at him, who was thinking, _I never got to tell her that she has such beautiful eyes...and such a gorgeous pelt. Now's my time to tell her! I can do this! I really can!_

But instead, he mewed, "Are you okay, Silverheart?"

"Yeah," she breathed.

But then, she noticed him involuntarily pinning her to the ground. She looked surprised when she had found out that their noses were touching and they were staring into each other's' eyes. Soon, realizing what happened, Goldwing let Silverheart slip out from under his weight and shake her silky fur. He noticed that a part of her head fur was a bit loose, so he padded to her and licked it to keep it straight.

After that was done, the two Clan warriors woke up Archie and they went down the tunnels, fearing what next animal would spring out at them. When they stopped, Silverheart pointed her tail to the darkness up ahead and called Goldwing over to her.

"Look!"

Goldwing focused on seeing through the dark like a ShadowClan cat: there was a huge round stone door ahead of them. They ran over to it, feeling a ray of sunshine of hope in their hearts.

"Yes! It's the exit!" Goldwing squeaked happily.

After nodding to one another, the two cats began to strain with effort, trying to push the door open, but they didn't have any success. Suddenly, there was the sound of giant feet plodding behind them, roaring noises coming after that. Goldwing and Silverheart turned to see Archie scratching the ground and hissing. They looked at each other in alarm, realizing the dragon's intentions, so they leapt out of the way just as he charged at the door and forced it open.

There were cracks forming around the round door, and it swung open so suddenly that it made Goldwing and Silverheart jump with anxiety. The two cats leaped down into the chamber and looked around with disappointment. This wasn't a way out, but they were far from getting out right about now.

"Oh, shit! This isn't an exit!" Silverheart squealed with shock.

Goldwing shook his head with agreement and murmured, "You're right. This is a tomb!"

They padded forward to a railing, and then they looked down inside the tomb near the row of sarcophagi. Archie let out a roar and Goldwing felt a lot of spiritual energy radiating from the tombs. Maybe they were drawn here for something...

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing and Silverheart stared around them in amazement at the hidden tomb. Shaggy, Fang Yin, and Shaiming hadn't told the three Clan warriors about the hidden tomb, but they would be able to find out the truth. Both cats were careful not to beat anything up, since this room seemed to be ancient and powerful in spirituality.

The two cats padded down a wide staircase leading to the sarcophagi at the center of the burial chamber. They approached the platform on which the two coffins rested.

"Wow," Goldwing murmured. "These must be the graves of the lovers from that legend. They must be the cats buried here."

Silverheart nodded, placing her torch in a holder as she looked over to the side of the dais. A series of paintings and writing decorated the side of the platform. "These pictures can tell their story," she murmured, looking it over.

As they followed the pictures, Silverheart began telling the story out loud:

"There were once two forbidden lovers, a brown tabby tom and a black she-cat. These two met up with each other on the mountain that divided their territories. Since their territories were bitter enemies, they couldn't be together, but their love was so strong that they were able to find a way.

"The two forbidden lovers learned EarthBending from the source of this ancient art, the woolly mammoths; because of that, they became the first-ever EarthBending cats. They built structured tunnels so that they could meet in secret and avoid betraying their territories. Any cat that would try and follow them in would be lost forever in the caverns.

"But one fateful day, the brown tabby tom didn't come and meet up with her. The black she-cat knew he would come back one day, but she learned the truth: he was killed in a clash among the two warring packs of cats. She became so distressed that she unleashed a terrible display of her EarthBending, and she could've destroyed them all.

"But instead, she declared that the war was officially over. The two former rivals decided to help her build a new city so they could live as one in peace and love. The tom's name was Mudheart, and the she-cat's name was Hollystorm. The new leader Holly_star _named the new Clan after her beloved mate, so the Clan became MudClan."

The two cats had finished reading the story and looked over at a statue with two cats, which were maybe Hollystar and Mudheart. He could see that their lips were pressed against each other with their eyes closed, and he knew that this was called "kissing." Both warriors looked down at their paws to see an inscription.

"'Even in the dark, love is at its brightest,'" Silverheart quoted while reading it.

**(Author's Note: I got the idea of those two statues kissing from Forever Ebonycloud from the website called . On the New Clans manga, the parents of Tigerliliy and Ghostclaw were seen kissing. No flames on that, please!)**

**...**

As Ashfeather looked down at his map, Tobias landed on his shoulder and looked down at the map too. There seemed to be no way to count on the hippies to help out, or they would be ranting on about love getting out of the tunnels.

"Aw, that's great!" Shaiming whined as he faced Ashfeather. "Once again, your map led us to another dead end!"

Having enough of this, the dark gray tabby whirled around and retorted defensively, "Well, I'm sorry! I'VE been the one to think of these ideas and trying to get us out of here alive! Eat that!"

But right before things got very dangerous, Shaggy padded in between the two cats and held out his front paws in a peaceful way.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, dudes," the shaggy brown tabby-&-cream tom meowed, settling them down. "We ARE thinking of ideas! In fact, I've thought of an idea over an hour ago!"

"WE'RE ALL THINKING OF DAMN IDEAS, JACKASS!" Ashfeather roared angrily at him. "Sheesh!"

Shaggy stepped back a little, but then he meowed, "Okay... Well, listen to this plan, man: since love is the key to escaping from here, then we just play a love song!"

At that, he began playing his guitar again with the other cats joining in. While Tobias flew off, Ashfeather gave a growl and scratched at the ground. This was even worse than when he and his friends had been trapped with the Yin-Yang Tribe in the Great Canyon. The images of the large canyon crawlers and the injured guide still made him shiver, though.

**...**

After looking up at the statue again and observing the kissing, Goldwing, Silverheart, and Archie were now looking around at one another. Even though he couldn't understand cats, the white furry dragon seemed to understand the situation.

"Okay, so now we know the legend," Goldwing meowed, licking his forepaw. "But how are we gonna escape from these tunnels?"

Silverheart didn't answer right away; instead, she seemed to be deep in thought. Goldwing could see her eyes widen a little and her fur ruffle. Finally, she turned to face him, her cheeks glowing red and her blue eyes turning amber in the fire light.

"Hey, Goldwing. I've just thought of a crazy idea."

"What is it, Silverheart?"

It seemed Silverheart did not want to reveal it, for she turned away and muttered, "Uh...never mind. It's gonna sound mouse-brained." While she mewed this, she did look a little bashful; he wondered what was going on with her.

Goldwing stopped licking his paw and urged her, "Come on. What is it? You can tell me."

"Well..." the silver warrior turned her head away from him with discomfiture on her slender face. "So...I was thinking that the curse says that any cat will be trapped in these tunnels forever if we don't trust in love. Right?"

"Right," Goldwing replied.

Silverheart pointed her tail at the writing below the statue. "And that writing said that even in the dark, love is at its brightest...and..." She faced him, but her blue eyes still turned away. "...and there's a statue of them kissing. Usually, Twolegs did that, but..."

Goldwing tilted his head to one side, completely unable of understanding what was going on. "Um...Silverheart? What the hell are you meowing about?"

"Well..." Silverheart mumbled shyly. "What happened if...if we...kissed?"

Goldwing was amazed to see her finally look up at him in the eyes with a rather dreamy, rather hopeful look on her face. The golden AirClan cat could see her blushing obviously even in the darkness. He wondered if she liked him back, but he wasn't sure at all.

"Us...kissing?" Goldwing asked her, unable to react much for a second.

Silverheart nodded dreamily and meowed, "Yeah...you see? It is a crazy idea." She turned away from quickly as if not able to tell him more of her idea.

Goldwing couldn't believe what she was saying; she wanted to kiss him, a thing only Twolegs were able to do before their extinction. But the thought made him feel relaxed since he liked her a lot.

"Us...kissing..." Goldwing murmured again, this time in a dreamy voice.

_Somewhere there's a reason_

_Why I have to go_

_Keep away from this star-crossed wanderer_

_That I don't want to know_

"See?" Silverheart replied, giggling nervously as if to laugh it off. "Us kissing? What the hell was I thinking? I can't imagine the two of us doing that!"

Goldwing tried to also laugh it off, though it wasn't nearly as good as hers. Heh-heh. Yeah." He looked around at her with extra emphasis, a dreamy feeling in his heart like floating in a cloud. "I agree. I really wouldn't want to kiss you!"

But as soon as he had meowed that aloud, he felt his heart wrench painfully as hard as falling to the ground. He realized that he just said the wrong thing and...in a very foolish way. Silverheart's eyes grew wide with shock and a little bit of sadness, but then it turned to anger and pain.

The silver she-cat growled with an upset tone, "Oh, I'm SO sorry! I didn't know it was the most mouse-brained idea in existence! I'm sorry I gave you that damn idea!" she added angrily, a snarl in her tone.

"It's not that!" Goldwing mewed desperately, trying to recover. "What I'm trying to say is...that if I ever had a choice of either dying or kissing you..."

But as he said that, he saw he just made her angrier, for she growled "Oh!" in a very hurt way, turned her nose up into the air, and looked away from him.

Goldwing tried to face her without success. "What? I'm just saying I'd rather kiss you than die! That's all! It's a compliment!" he added, wagging his tail in pacification and hoping she would calm down.

But he was wrong; instead of calming down, Silverheart looked even angrier and turned to him angrily, snarling, "Well, I'm not sure if I want to do it, asshole!" With a final growl, she flicked her tail at his face before stalking away from him and into the darkness.

_What is wrong with me? _Goldwing murmured to himself. The golden Avatar Cat had the perfect chance to tell Silverheart about how he felt about her, and he messed it up. He felt even worse than when he hid Emberstar's map from her and Ashfeather, and her rejection was harsher than her brother's yelling.

As Goldwing and Archie plodded along behind her, they could see Silverheart turn around to give him a guilty glance. She had felt very bad for yelling at him, and she knew she should not have turned away. He was sure she liked him back, but it seemed she didn't have the courage to tell him about how she felt.

_Never trust the future_

_Never miss the past_

_If you live for the shining moment_

_The moment that just might last_

**...**

Finally, after several minutes of talking, Bearclaw and Irontail were ready to leave Song's nest. The four cats were standing in the courtyard, it was still night, and fireflies were floating lazily around them all. Song and her mother were standing in front of the two toms, ready to bid them farewell.

"Thank you for the chicken," Irontail purred graciously. "It was very delightful."

Song's mother nodded back and mewed, "It's no problem. We figured you two hadn't eaten in a while." She reached behind her and pushed forward a box of chicken leftovers and a rabbit on top. "It makes me happy to see a cat enjoy my cooking with such...passion," she added playfully.

Irontail swiped his tongue around the lips on his flat muzzle. "Ah...I've had _much_ practice at that." Bearclaw, unable to stay around any longer, tried to pad away, but Irontail stood in his way and scolded him, "Junior, have you left your manners in a barn? Please thank these nice loners."

Sighing but wanting to get it over with, the dark tabby turned around and gave the two she-cats a small bow, his face still hidden by his large hat. "Thank you," he meowed quickly with not much feeling before padding away.

"Wait!" Song called after him but he still ignored the tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat. "I know you might think that there's no hope left, but hope has come at last! The Avatar Cat has returned! He saved the Northern WaterClan, and he received his warrior name!"

Bearclaw finally stopped right where he was as he quickly turned around to face her. He knew that the Avatar Cat had saved the WaterClan camp, but he never knew that he became a warrior after that. But he had to give up on catching him, now that he was a rogue.

"I know," he murmured silently but intensely.

As soon as he finished, he padded away again with Irontail behind him. Bearclaw knew he liked Song a little, but he knew she wasn't to become his mate; it had to stay that way. Besides, he had no time for a mate while he was on the run.

As they passed the courtyard gate, they saw a stable where the pinto mare was tied to. When he passed it, Bearclaw stopped, looked at the animal, and looked back at the courtyard. The dark tabby knew that he was being rude to Song and her mother by doing this. But there was no other way for him and his uncle to go anywhere. So he released the horse and began leading her away with them.

"Bearclaw, have you got bees in your brain?" Irontail hissed, looking aghast and angry. "These two cats have shown you great kindness! Is this the way you want to repay them? By stealing their horse?"

Bearclaw leaped onto the horse and began steering her toward the gate by grabbing her reins in his jaws. He looked down at his uncle, who was running to keep up with the mare. "They'll show us more kindness by letting us have their horse. Well? Are you coming on?" he added, reaching down to grab his uncle's scruff.

Irontail gave a disgusted sigh, since he was upset about this, but he allowed his nephew to drag him onto the pinto mare. Bearclaw couldn't believe his uncle's weight; he had probably snuck some extra mice from the fresh-kill pile of Song's mother.

_And he's the one to call _me_ ungrateful?_

But right before they left on the horse, Bearclaw saw a flash of green, and he looked up. Song had seen the entire scene and her green eyes were filled with sorrow; she looked very crushed with a tear rolling down her cheek. But Bearclaw, despite feeling bad, couldn't apologize or he would have to explain his entire story.

Without another word or a look back, the two toms and the horse rode off into the night.

**...**

Back in the caverns, Goldwing glanced around at the torch that he was carrying in his jaws. When he set it down, he was shocked to see that it was very low; their two hours seemed to be almost up. If he and Silverheart didn't do anything soon, they would be trapped forever. But he didn't want to risk her anger by bringing that up again.

So he just meowed gloomily, "Looks like we're gonna run out of fire soon."

"Yeah." To his relief, Silverheart didn't sound angry anymore; instead, she had the same look on her face: gloominess. "Besides, sorry I snapped at you before."

"It's okay. But what'll we do now?" Goldwing asked her.

But Silverheart responded with another question: "What _can _we do?"

**(Author's note: I'm REALLY gonna love this part! This part is the reason why I love this episode!)**

But when they looked down at the torch, they both knew what would happen if they didn't do anything. As Goldwing gripped the torch's handle with his paw, he felt something warm touch his own. When he looked up, he suddenly blushed when he saw that Silverheart was holding his paw with her own white paw. Her pretty dark blue eyes had just turned amber with seriousness and...love.

_Can you feel the love tonight?_

_It is where we are_

_It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer_

_That we got this far_

Goldwing felt himself lean inwards toward Silverheart as she did the same, her eyes closing. The golden-furred warrior also closed his dark gray eyes, and the last thing he saw before he closed them was the flickering of the light going out. His heart hammering hard, he leaned in more as she was now doing the same, although he couldn't see her. Then, to their amazement, he felt his lips connect with hers.

Suddenly, a few seconds after kissing, Goldwing felt a great power surging through the cave and the two cats broke off their kiss. Right above their heads, the gemstones on the ceiling were now brightly glowing bright blue. Goldwing and Silverheart looked at one another, their paws still holding one another, before looking up in amazement at the path of gemstones leading the way out.

_We did it!_

**...**

Meanwhile, at the other side, Ashfeather felt he was going to fly into a rage if Shaggy and his pack continued their songs. Suddenly, to his confusion, Shaggy stopped playing his instrument and looked into the darkness, his eyes wide. The dark gray tabby felt relief at not hearing another song, but then he saw why the hippie stopped playing and singing.

Out of the darkness, a huge flock of vampire bats emerged, flying very quickly toward the four cats. They flew over and around Ashfeather, who flailed his paws hysterically about. Suddenly, the bats were gone in an instant, flying down the tunnel.

"Hey-hey, Ashfeather, my man!" Shaggy praised him. "You saved us!"

"Um...no, I didn't," Ashfeather meowed at him with confusion

Why had the bats flown away from them? _Do I offend? _he thought, trying to sniff his pelt. When it smelled all right, he turned back to the hippies and mewed, "They were trying to fly away from something."

Shaggy tilted his head at him and asked, "From what?"

Shaiming spoke up, "Yeah! I wanna know, too!"

Behind them, the rocks exploded and the tunnel around them quaked, making the cats turning around in shock at what happened next. A huge brown-furred woolly mammoth appeared from the dust, its long tusks glowing in the torchlight and its small dark eyes glaring down at them. Behind them, another explosion of rock revealed another woolly mammoth and one after that and yet another after that. The four cats were surrounded.

The giant monster in front of Ashfeather trumpeted loudly and swung its tusks to the ground, and it threw earth around the WaterClan tom, separating him from the others. The mammoth stomped the ground in front of him and knocked Ashfeather backwards onto the ground. He tried to get away from them, but the other mammoths stomped toward him.

With fright, Ashfeather arched his back to scare them away, but it wasn't working; they were much bigger than he. But as he stepped backwards away from the advancing woolly mammoth, his back paws accidentally strummed Shaggy's guitar discarded on the ground in the shuffle. To his confusion, the mammoth no longer looked angry; instead, it looked amused and beckoned for the others to see this wonder.

Ashfeather, who was relieved that he wasn't going to be eaten, picked up the guitar in his paws and began strumming it. He hated the sound of it, but he had to if they were to escape from these giant beasts.

"Great StarClan!" Shaggy meowed with happiness. "Those guys love music!"

Then Ashfeather began trying to sing to the one note he was strumming and not doing very well at it. But he still had to do it so that the mammoths wouldn't change their minds and eat the four cats. When Ashfeather looked over at them, he sung to them:

"_There are mammoths coming toward me._

_Come on, guys, help me out!"_

Finally encouraged by Ashfeather's brave opportunity to distract them, Shaggy and his troupe of cats stood up from cowering and began to play their instruments and sing. Ashfeather was a little enlightened when Shaggy sung:

"_The wooly mammoths_

_Who work in the tunnels,_

_Hate the cave's bats_

_But love the sound."_

Giving a mighty trumpet of glee, the lead mammoth, which was the biggest, picked Ashfeather up in its trunk and placed him onto its head. Giving a happy grumble, it beckoned for its fellow mammoths to do the same, and the three other cats were on top of the three extra mammoths. Soon enough, all of them were slowly making their way through the caverns with Tobias flying after them.

**...**

Back at the lit path, Goldwing and Silverheart looked up at the bright lights, and Goldwing saw Silverheart's silver pelt turn bright blue in this light. But they were still amazed at the majesty and beauty of the lights. The two cats released each other's paws and looked into each other's eyes.

"Wow. It's made of crystals," Goldwing commented, looking around. "I guess they only light up in the dark!"

Silverheart purred while looking up at the lights, "This must be the way the two lovers meet up with each other! They throw away the light and follow this light! I'm glad to see this with you," she added, rubbing her head to Goldwing's.

Goldwing purred, "Me too."

He relished in feeling her soft warm silver fur and he hoped that they could be like this forever, but they couldn't for now. What mattered now was being with her.

_Can you feel the love tonight?_

_Won't you stay to see?_

_Stealing through the night's uncertainties_

_A truth for you and me._

"Anyways..." Silverheart meowed as they stepped apart.

"Let's go!" Goldwing excitedly.

Right away, he raced off through the tunnels with Silverheart following behind him. As they ran through the tunnels, Goldwing could see her dark blue eyes filled with happiness as she raced alongside him. Behind them, Archie roared happily at the prospect of being free and ran off after them.

Finally, there was a bright light and they found themselves at a projection on the mountain. Archie, who was right behind them, roared happily as he raced around in a circle before lying down flat on his back. Goldwing hadn't seen sunlight for a few hours and it felt as refreshing as lapping up cool, spring water.

But as Goldwing and Silverheart sat together, Goldwing looked back in the tunnel and murmured uneasily, "Well, we're out now. But...what about-"

But the Avatar Cat was cut off when a rumble made both cats yowl with worry and look at a mighty crack forming. Suddenly, the crack exploded, and four huge woolly mammoths plodded out with four cats perched on top of each one. Ashfeather was one of them.

"Ashfeather!" Silverheart yowled with joy at seeing her brother again.

The dark gray tabby tom leaped down from his mammoth and raced over to them, mewing with wonder and joy, "How'd you guys get out?"

"We did what the legend said: we let love lead the way," Goldwing purred, wanting to treasure that moment forever.

"Huh! Well, we let gigantic prehistoric music-loving monsters lead OUR way," Ashfeather gave out his answer.

Then he turned around and waved a goodbye tail-wave to the mammoths, which had dropped off their riders and plodded back into the tunnel. The other cats also waved goodbye to them as the giant brown creatures turned around and entered the two holes they created to exit the mountain. They ended up closing them up with their EarthBending powers after they passed through.

Meanwhile, Tobias flew out of the cavern, landing right on top of Archie's head straight away. The red-tailed hawk begins to caw excitedly, clearly telling Archie the story of what happened after they got separated. Tobias began waving his wings about to illustrate his tale as the dragon grunted and put his head on his forepaw as he listened to his friend's explanation.

Back at the other cats, as Silverheart embraced her littermate, Goldwing noticed some kind of red mark on his friend's head while the silver she-cat asked him, "Um...how the hell did you get that mark on your head?"

But before the dark gray tabby warrior could speak, Shaggy leaned forward and rasped in a serious voice, "Dudes and dudette, don't react to what I'm gonna tell you." Pointing his paw to Ashfeather, he meowed, "I think this guy's the Avatar Cat!"

Ashfeather gave a groan as he slapped his forepaw to his forehead in frustration. That answered Silverheart's question, but that just made the brown-&-cream tom look closely up at his mark.

"So are you gonna go to MudClan too?" Goldwing asked the three cats.

Shaiming shook his head.

"Oh, okay," the Avatar Cat meowed. To the other hippies, he mewed, "Thanks for everything, you guys."

To his amusement, Shaggy padded over to Ashfeather, took off his flower necklace, and draped it over the warrior's head. Then he meowed, "Listen, Ashfeather, my man: I hope you learned a lesson in not letting plans get in the way of your journey." To finish that, he gave Ashfeather a happy lick on the ear.

Ashfeather didn't snarl and swipe at his ears, but he blushed and muttered gruffly, "Just play your songs, shithead."

"Good idea!" the brown tabby cheered, not regarding the insult and releasing him. Then he kinked his tail to his fellow hippies and they followed him down the mountain, singing:

"_Even if you're lost, you can't lose the love,_

_Because it's in your heart._

_Ooooohhhhh…"_

As Shaggy, Fang Yin, and Shaiming padded away while singing their songs, Ashfeather gave the flower necklace a weird look before taking it off and stuffing it into his bag. Goldwing could tell that his friend wasn't interested in the singing in the tunnels, but the golden cat felt that he should at least be proud of himself. Ashfeather had just rescued the cats by doing the exact thing that he hated.

Then...Goldwing looked to the left at Silverheart and blushed, feeling he should sit beside her. Without waiting for a reply, the Avatar Cat padded over to Silverheart, quickly sat down, and touched her paw with his. He was almost afraid of her yelling at him again or even scratching him, but she just looked surprised.

When she looked down, she looked around at him, smiled at him, and leaned against his lean shoulder. Both of them had felt very lighthearted after their adventure and they were happy to spend it together. _This is much better than I thought,_ they both thought.

_Stealing through the night's uncertainties_

He now saw that he didn't like her; he _loved _her.

_A love for you...and me._

**...**

After they spent a few minutes or so catching some prey, the three cats, Archie, and Tobias began climbing up either a hill or small mountain. Some time has passed since the departure of Shaggy and his pack of hippies, but it was still daylight outside. Goldwing and Silverheart could tell that Ashfeather hoped that they never saw the hippie cats ever again.

"So what're you thinking about?" Silverheart asked her brother.

"Our past adventure," Ashfeather just replied as he climbed higher. "It may be hard and irritating thanks to those hippies, but it's not about singing. It's about destination."

When the three cats arrived at the top of the mountain, Ashfeather breathed in deeply and began looking over the top. "I present to you the great city of...of..." But then, his pale blue eyes turned from a look of joy to one of pure horror. "Oh no..."

When Goldwing and Silverheart reached the top, they both gasped in horror. Goldwing was shocked that this wasn't what he expected.

In front of them was the fortressed city of MudClan...or actually, they saw what was _once_ the fortressed city of MudClan. It was now surrounded by what looked like blockade towers. The city, which had no smoke at all, was now smoking and appeared to be on fire in several places. They looked on in revile at the main gate, where the flag of FireClan was now hanging.

FireClan had taken over MudClan.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Again, I'm sorry if I've not been uploading stories lately. Again, I've been distracted by many things lately.**

**Katara: Like what?**

**AvatarCat12: Like for when Legend Of Korra arrives in twenty-five more days!**

**Aang: I heard about that! It's gonna be great seeing a new Avatar! And what about your Warrior Cat books?**

**AvatarCat12: I can't wait for them either! But let's go on with the review thing and the preview for Return To MudClan. (To the readers) You know what to do: review if you'd like. Anyone who does will get a plush doll of either Korra or Firestar. I allow constructive criticism, but please don't make it too harsh. And I don't allow flames on here.**

**Preview: Goldwing and his friends have arrived at the conquered MudClan, where a pack of warriors plan to rebel and take their Clan back. Meanwhile, Frostfire realizes that she could not complete her mission alone...**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	4. Return To MudClan

**AvatarCat12: Okay, from now on, I'm gonna focus on uploading my stories. Nothing else.**

**Aang: What about helping your mom out?**

**Katara: He's right. You help her around the house, right?**

**AvatarCat12: Of course I do! And I think I could help her out all I can until the day she's gone.**

**Katara: That's sweet of you, AvatarCat.**

**Aang: She's right. You're like a good son to her. Anyways, let's get this show on the road!**

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats don't belong to him. Not ever.**

**Summary: Goldwing and his friends have arrived at the conquered MudClan, where a pack of warriors plan to rebel and take their Clan back. Meanwhile, Frostfire realizes that she could not complete her mission alone...**

**Updating Date: March 25, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_Return To MudClan_

Goldwing let out a sigh of despair when he looked at the entrance to MudClan. He could still see the FireClan flag hanging over the newly installed front gate. The path to the city gate had been recently broken along a good piece of its length and repaired. Around the bastion the scaffolding of what appeared to be siege towers could be seen. Columns of smoke rose from various places in the city.

_Great StarClan, how did this happen? _the golden Avatar Cat thought.

Out loud, he mewed as he faced Silverheart and Ashfeather. "I...I can't believe this. I know that the War has spread out to all the other Clans. But MudClan just seemed to be safe." He turned about to gaze sadly at the fallen city again.

"Well, you're right about that," Ashfeather mewed kindly. "It DID use to be safe. But now, only BoulderClan is safest place in EarthClan territory."

"This is awful," Silverheart meowed sadly, adding, "But we can't help now. We'll just have to move on."

Feeling angry about leaving his friend, Goldwing hissed, "There's no way in Hell I'm leaving Rockstar behind! I'm going in after him!"

Then he began to pad away from them on the way to the fallen city, resolute to save his friend. But he suddenly stopped walking and felt a tug on his tail; he turned to see what had done this. Ashfeather had padded forward and grasped him by the tail in his jaws to stop him from going onwards.

The dark gray tabby tom mewed through a mouthful of tail, "Goldwing, stop for a minute. We don't even know if...if he...um..."

"What?" Goldwing growled defiantly, facing him as he wrenched his tail out of his mouth. There were now golden hairs in his friend's jaws. "Go on! Say it! If he what?"

"Um..." Ashfeather turned away from him refusing to meet his eyes. "...around here."

Silverheart padded up to stand beside her brother as she mewed to Goldwing, "I know you really hoped to learn EarthBending from Rockstar, but don't worry! There could be another cat around who could teach you EarthBending."

But Goldwing shook his head. "Silverheart, finding my friend is more important than finding a mentor. This isn't about finding a mentor; it's about finding a friend."

Without another word, Goldwing tore his gaze away from the two WaterClan cats and padded away to the city. He knew he wanted to learn EarthBending, but rescuing a friend in trouble was much more important. Pawsteps behind him told him that the two other cats were following him, sticking beside him no matter what happened.

**...**

The three cats had approached the main gates on top of Archie, who didn't mind going to the now dangerous city. Its turrets, guard house roofing, and even the paifang in front of the main gate were all built in FireClan architectural style. Right behind the city wall, smokestacks and scaffolding could be seen.

Archie flew onwards as he went down beside an outcrop at the base of the other side of the moat. The Asian Lung dragon just grunted a bit as he floated around.

"Wait...there's a secret passage into here?" Ashfeather meowed with disbelief.

Later on, Archie dropped off the three Clan warriors near the wall and flew off as they padded over to a capped pipe in the wall. Goldwing leaped on top of the pipe, using his staff and front paws as a lever to try and open the drain. Meanwhile, Archie floated peacefully in the air above them and in the clouds.

"I don't wanna be a critic or anything, but why the hell didn't we just use this when we were apprentices?" Ashfeather complained.

But he was cut off as the cap popped off, releasing a massive gout of greenish sewage, some of which washed over Ashfeather. The dark gray tabby warrior leaped back with a yowl of disgust and he almost groomed his pelt. But he withdrew his tongue just in time in case he got the bad taste onto his taste buds.

Goldwing gave him a glance and meowed, "_Now_ does that answer your question?" before he leaped down and looked into the pipe with Silverheart behind him. Tobias clung to her shoulder as they looked inside.

The disgusting greenish sewage continued to pour out of the pipe as Goldwing leaped inside and disappeared up the pipe, a grim look on his face. Silverheart, Ashfeather, and Tobias looked one more time into the pipe and the flies that were buzzing around it. At once, Ashfeather followed his sister into the pipe and covered his nose with a forepaw as he moved forward. Now he had to walk on three legs, but that didn't seem to bother him.

Once inside, Goldwing, with a firm expression on his face, began AirBending the sewage out of their way with his staff. Silverheart was travelling behind him, not complaining as she shoved her way through the sewage. Tobias, on Silverheart's shoulder, was just fanning the sewage away by flapping his wings. But Ashfeather, however, was making a few revolted growls as he kept getting splashed by the sewage.

Goldwing finally reached a manhole after some bit of training. Grunting with all of his might, he shoved his shoulders upward and began pushing the disc away. Silverheart joined up with him and helped him push up. Ever since they got out of the Cave of Loved Ones, they were hard to separate.

When that object was out of the way, Goldwing looked out of the hole to scent the area; so far, he couldn't scent any cat around the area. There wasn't even prey scurrying around the area, not even a bird singing or a mouse scurrying around. When the coast was clear, he leaped out of the hole with Silverheart behind him, who was shaking the muck off of her silver fur.

"You know what?" she asked him. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!"

"Yeah, but where'd Ashfeather go?" Goldwing asked back. "He was right behind you!"

Suddenly, a loud groaning made the two cats bristle and they turned to see something come out of the manhole. A large globule of green sewage had just emerged from the manhole and was coming right at them. Goldwing and Silverheart back away from the monster in repulsion, fur bristling and claws unsheathed.

But when it got nearer, Goldwing looked around to see Silverheart glance at a water barrel right before flicking her tail at it. When the water rose up, the silver she-cat Bended some water from the water barrel at the monster. The water washed the stuff away to reveal Ashfeather, who gave a yowl of surprise and slumped down, sopping wet. Goldwing swung his staff at the WaterClan tomcat, whipping a strong airstream that blew him dry, once again producing a protest from his target.

Silverheart looked over at Goldwing in embarrassment and meowed, "Oh, there he is."

When Ashfeather raised his head and shook himself dry, there were two small purple octopus-like creatures stuck to either side of his head. He was unaware of his unexpected guests until, a second later, they both palpitated and squeaked.

"MMrrooww!" Ashfeather quickly grabbed a small octopus in each forepaw and tried to pull them from his face, but their suckers just kept them attached. He also stretched them out to a ridiculous distance, but still they hung on. "Help me! These little bastards won't let go!"

"Ashfeather, shut up!" Goldwing hissed mutely. He pounced onto his friend, pinned him to the ground, and released him. Ashfeather sat up and looked at the golden warrior, an unpleasant and resigned look on his face. "It's just a pygmy purple octopus."

The octopi began to palpitate again, making small and adorable squishing noises. The dark gray tabby tom's eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets as he looked to either side of his face in horror. He almost yowled, but only slightly choked noises emerged from his throat. There was only one thing to do at a time like this.

So Goldwing reached out with his front paw and gripped the nearest octopus. He rubbed its head with his claw gently, making it squeal. It raised its eight tentacles from Ashfeather's cheek and popped off his face without further argument.

While rubbing his free cheek, Ashfeather repeated what he did on the other side of his face. The other octopus squeaked and released the tomcat's right check with another little popping sound. The suckers on the tentacles had just left sets of small eight round red dots all over his cheeks. Ashfeather rubbed his cheek for a second with his paw, seeming to relax a little bit more.

Goldwing had just removed a third small octopus from behind his friend's neck when they were quickly interrupted.

"Hey! Hey, you!"

The three cats turned around to see three gray FireClan cats prowl to them, their claws sliding out. Immediately, Goldwing recalled that he didn't disguise himself like he did a few moons ago, so he prepared to run. But there was no need for that; Silverheart and Ashfeather shielded him, and he managed to paint some nearby black paint all over his white arrow stripes.

One of the gray cats growled, "Why are you three up past your curfew?"

"Um, sorry!" Silverheart stumbled over her words. "We were...uh...just going home."

At that, the three cats turned around and started to pad away quickly, Ashfeather bringing up the rear. But to their horror, Goldwing saw one cat leap forward and drag Ashfeather back by the tail as he squeaked with surprise.

"You two get back here!" another cat growled. When Goldwing and Silverheart padded back, the gray cat pointed his muzzle to Ashfeather's spotted cheeks and grunted, "What's wrong with this one?"

All three cats looked at one another in confusion until Silverheart padded over to her littermate. "He just received octopox, sir."

One of the gray FireClan warriors padded up to touch his cheek with a curious forepaw, but Silverheart stopped him by stepping in between them.

"Don't touch him!" she yowled with a pleading look in her dark blue eyes. "It's...um...awfully infectious!"

Instantly, as if obeying a command, the gray tomcat pulled back his paw with fear in his amber eyes. Then Ashfeather looked around to give Goldwing a wink, and he responded with the same. Then Ashfeather began to act ill by rising to his hind paws and moaning with mock pain.

"Uugghh...I feel awful...I'm gonna die..."

Silverheart added, "Yep! And it's deadly!"

Ashfeather continued to moan and staggered forward; the warriors stepped backward to avoid contact. Then the dark gray tabby tom scared them further by coughing and spitting up sewage at them. Goldwing felt that the sewage wouldn't taste good at all; the worst thing he ever tasted was the Stewed Seal Blubber, a dish that his friends' family friend, Volefoot, made.

"Wait a minute! I think I've heard of octopox!" the lead gray tom squealed with horror. Turning to one of his companions, he asked him, "Didn't your cousin Hedgeleaf die from it?"

The gray tomcat beside him nodded while Ashfeather lurched toward them.

The tom wailed, "Oh shit! Um...carry on, you three! We gotta clean our pelts...and burn our crow-food!"

Immediately, the three cats turned tail and fled from the three young cats. Ashfeather stood up and purred with satisfaction, "Yeah! Nobody better mess with me!"

Goldwing purred as Silverheart nudged her brother on his shoulder proudly. To a small pygmy octopus, he patted it on the head, purring, "Good job, my sewer friend! Thank you!" The octopus replied with a happy and very adorable squeak before going back into the sewer.

**...**

It was night, and the full moon hung above when Frostfire's ship landed on the sun-drown-place. The exact place was filled with tents and it was populated with cats from Frostfire's royal patrol. The black she-cat herself was sitting within her litter, which rested atop the platform on the deck on her ship. She was flanked on either side by her old bald mentors. Below them on the deck, a row of FireClan warriors lied face down on either side of the ship.

"Since you are also looking for your littermate and your uncle," one bald she-cat croaked, "it may be necessary to not bring along a patrol. It could be a burden on top of your shoulders."

"True," the other bald she-cat spoke up. "It will be good to go on your own. You will be the one with the element of surprise."

Frostfire nodded in agreement. If she went with a whole patrol of cats to hunt down her targets, those targeted cats would flee from her quickly. But if she went with two cats or three, this could be better to keep the element of surprise at her side. Now there was something to do to keep her occupied for a while as she made up her decision.

So she purred softly, "You're right. A patrol will be heavier on my shoulder than a badger. I must catch my chosen prey by being agile...nimble and quick. I need a small team...small yet deadly. I think the time to visit my old friends has come."

With a lick on her paw and swiping it over her ear, she looked up at the moon and felt that she would accomplish victory.

**...**

Goldwing and his small pack of cats were trying hard to try and find Rockstar, but they had no luck so far. They looked around and moved ahead while trying to escape all forms of detection. They had managed to hide behind some kind of building materials as a medium-sized FireClan patrol passed by. After that, they decided to leap on top of the buildings and travel that way.

"Look, let's just find Rockstar, and then we'll leave," Silverheart meowed to Goldwing as they leapt from building to building.

"Yeah, but how are we gonna find him?" Ashfeather spoke up.

Remembering the prison that Brindle, an EarthClan friend of theirs, and his father had been sent to for EarthBending, Goldwing looked around. He could recall the black-&-tan prison warden saying that EarthBenders couldn't Bend metal, and only the strongest could do this. But he feared that Rockstar wasn't the strongest EarthBender in the world, although he knew his arts well.

So he meowed, "They probably locked him up somewhere with metal. It's a substance that not all EarthBenders can Bend."

**...**

A young FireClan she-cat lagged behind the small group of cats just ahead of her. Her short dark tortoiseshell fur had been groomed to extreme cleanliness, and it shone brightly in the moonlight. But her mien was impassive, her eyes dark amber and blank. Behind her, two FireClan warriors were guarding her as they padded around.

"There's no matching the hatred I feel for this place," she muttered limply.

"Rose, your father's the selected chief of this city," her mother, a dark brown tabby, rebuked her calmly as a little cream-colored kitten sprung around her paws. "We're like royalty here, and you should just be grateful."

But unknown to the party of FireClan cats padding around the area, there were quite a few cats crouched on top of one of the famous chutes of MudClan. It was still night, and the torches of the young she-cat's party could clearly be seen below. A gray tabby cat glared down at them before turning to his comrades.

"FireClan is here."

"Kill them," the leader, a large brown-&-gray tabby tom, murmured.

Down below, Rose still prowled behind her mother as she whined in an upset (although dull) voice, "Back in FireClan, I thought life would be a lot boring. But now this place is so boring; nothing ever happens here."

**...**

Goldwing heard rocks breaking from the ground as he saw a cat raise some rocks into the air, silhouetted in the moonlight. What he saw next made him gasp: the cat launched the rocks into the tube, which went crashing down fast. He turned to see a small family of cats strolling right in its path, and he felt dread rush through him; if he didn't do something, those cats would soon be crushed.

_I gotta stop those rocks!_

Without another complaint from his friends, the Avatar Cat ran over to the bottom of the chute and waited. Then Goldwing raised his staff and pulverized the rocks into pebbles and earth as it passed with a blast of air. As the dust cleared, he could see the family of cats staring up at him with shock except for a dark tortoiseshell she-cat.

"It's the resistance!" a dark brown tabby she-cat howled in fear, shielding her cream-colored kit from Goldwing's gaze.

Goldwing saw the tortoiseshell smirk slightly, rise to her hind paws, and held out her forepaws, releasing a hail of small arrows. Goldwing avoided the arrows, which implanted themselves on the stack of material he stood on, and then the three young warriors found themselves fenced by FireClan cats that climbed up a couple ladders from the plaza below. Silverheart turned around and, using the water from water skin, she whipped them off the ledge and onto the plaza below.

Letting out a growl, the tortoiseshell she-cat leapt at Silverheart, her teeth bared. She fired yet another hail of from some unknown device around her paw and foreleg; her front claws were long, black, and very sharp. Quickly, Silverheart created a wall of ice in front her, stopping the arrows and protected herself. As the silver she-cat leaped back to avoid another attack, Goldwing let her pass as he faced the she-cat.

As his attacker approached, Goldwing kicked at a building frame on his right to fall between them. As the frame collapsed, the tortoiseshell was able to get one ornate throwing star through the falling wreckage. Goldwing grabbed it just in time and hurled it away from the other cats. The dust from the falling scaffolding cleared, once again giving the she-cat a clear shot. She threw another hail of arrows, but (to Goldwing's surprise) the pack disappeared through a large trap door which closed instantly above them.

He turned to see the dark tortoiseshell she-cat sigh amidst the wreckage, turn around, and pad away.

Sewage dripped from the ceiling as the three Clan warriors sat on the floor of the tunnel where they fell from above. Goldwing and Ashfeather rubbed their heads while Silverheart looked nervous. A big brown-&-gray tabby tom was sitting in front of them, looking very stern; he was probably the cat that made the rocks fall.

**...**

Frostfire padded among the red and pink circus tents with disgust on her face. She would never understand why her friend would want to live among this mess, but she knew better than to say that. The black-furred deputy of FireClan looked around to see a couple of hippos pushing a large barrel together.

Suddenly, she smelled a familiar scent of lilies in the air and she knew who that was. "Aya! Is that you?"

"Hey, Frostfire!" she turned to see a cat leap up from standing on its front paws and padded over to her. This was Aya, a pretty white she-cat with gray stripes on her body, a black tail tip, gray eyes, black head fur, and a bright smile on her face. She leaped over to Frostfire and buried her nose into her shoulder fur and purred while the black she-cat did the same.

Aya broke away and purred, "I've heard you're the new deputy of FireClan! That's so cool! Oh, it's so good to see you again!"

"You too," Frostfire purred. "Just don't let me interrupt your...ah..." She raised her brow, trying hard to search for the right word, but she quite failed. "...ah...whatever you were just doing."

But Aya didn't seem to be upset by that. Instead, still smiling, she flipped backwards and ended up laying on her chest, with one of her back paws arched over in front of her head, the other paw pointing straight up into the air. Frostfire took a chance to look around, and she could see a vain attempt to tame an absurdly dressed-up Diatryma. Its chick was looking up at it with a confused squawk.

Frostfire turned back to her friend and asked, "So tell me, Aya: what would the kit of a noble warrior be doing here? Of course your parents and my parents didn't send us to the Royal Fire School of Benders to end up in..." She turned around back to the Diatryma before adding in a slight contemptuous voice "...places like this."

The Diatryma added to this by squawking and laying down on the ground. When this was over, it rose up, and there was a large egg underneath it.

"Anyways, I got a deal to make with you," the black she-cat went on, ignoring that disturbing scene. She licked her paw and swiped it over her ear as she continued, "I'm trying to hunt down two rogues of FireClan. You remember that old ass of that uncle of mine?"

"Oh yeah! He was such a funny cat!" Aya purred, not regarding the harshness in her voice. She was still resting on her chest and front paws, but now with both hind paws planted on her head.

Frostfire couldn't believe that a cat could ever do that, but once again, she ignored it. "Would you like to join me on this warrior mission?"

"Oh! Um...I would like to," Aya stuttered, her gray eyes wide with surprise at being recruited out of the blue. She sprang back to her paws in a single fluid motion before smiling and adding, "But I'm happier here! My aura's never been pinker than before!"

"Eh...that'll do," Frostfire meowed. "I would never ask you to leave your beloved job just to force you to be by my side."

Aya dipped her head to the deputy and meowed gratefully, "Thanks!"

Frostfire gave a nod back to her and padded away; she smirked as she turned to see the white-pelted loner smile while raising her hind leg to her head in an impressive stretch. The black she-cat turned back around to address her once more.

"Oh, and one more thing," she meowed. "Before I leave, I would _really_ love to watch your circus show...if you don't mind."

An expression of panic extended over Aya's face, which rapidly turned away from her comrade, as she lost her grip on her hind leg. She recovered and gripped her hind leg one more time, a soft and worried expression on her face. Privately, Frostfire sneered to herself; this was going to be a good way to recruit her friend.

"Um...sure...uh...of course you can!" the white she-cat tried to purr but failing despondently.

Frostfire purred and prowled away from her, feeling triumphant about her first step in the plan working. _This is one mission I will not fail! Aya will have to join me sooner or later._

**...**

Back in the underground cave under the city of MudClan, it was filled with EarthClan resistance fighters. The three younger warriors and the Resistance leader stood on the protuberance in front of the major exit channel from the room. It was lit by a few lamps hanging from the walls.

"Is Rockstar here?" Goldwing immediately asked the Resistance leader. "Is he leading this?"

The brown-&-gray tabby tom gave a sigh and meowed, "No. When the day FireClan attacked us came, we were ready to fight to the death. We were ready to fight for our Clan...for our lives and our freedom. That's in the Warrior Code. But did we get a chance to fight? No! Because Rockstar surrendered before we even got a chance."

Goldwing took a step backwards from him, feeling horrified; Silverheart padded up to beside him and reassured him by pressing her muzzle to his shoulder. Goldwing couldn't believe it; Rockstar didn't want to fight FireClan and he just let them take over and do whatever they want. He felt as if his confidence had crumbled away like a log in a forest fire.

_Why, Rockstar? Why would you do this to your Clan?_

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing and his friends gave each other shocked glances as they heard the words tumble from the resistance leader's mouth. The three warriors knew that the MudClan leader was a powerful EarthBender (since he had been challenged by Goldwing to a battle and nearly won), but they never knew that he would deliberately give up. It made no sense whatsoever.

"Look, I'll tell you about what happened," the brown-&-gray tabby tom hissed with mild anger. "On the day FireClan attacked our Clan, I asked him what he wanted to do. But he turned around to me and said 'I'll tell you what I can do: NOTHING!' Then he started to laugh that crazy laugh of his and snort maniacally."

Then he gave a groan and scraped his front claws on the stone-covered floor, growling, "But it doesn't matter. Not for now. The only way we'll be free is to fight fang and claw with FireClan. Right now, freedom is worth dying for. It says so in the Warrior Code."

"But there's another path to freedom," Goldwing spoke up; he couldn't believe they were willing to die without finding a way to solve the problem. "You and your cats can leave MudClan. What you're doing is putting too much energy on fighting against FireClan. But can't you see you're outnumbered and you can't win without escaping scars or deaths? If you retreat, you'll be able to get a chance to recover and fight again one day."

"You bastard! You don't understand!" the resistance leader snarled, extending his claws until they were at their fullest. Then he croaked while swishing his tail around, "Those FireClan cats have stolen our home and our territory." Then he raised his paw into the air and took a swipe at it. "We'll fight at whatever cost!"

Goldwing had to hold back a snarl; he knew that sacrifices were never good except if it had to do with being Clan leader or a medicine cat. But what this warrior was doing would lead many cats to their deaths.

Suddenly, to his relief, a black-&-white tom stood up, looking nervous. "I don't know, boss. I think I'll sleep better if we leave to fight for another day."

A black-&-silver tom stood up and added, "I'm with the AirClan cat! Who's with us?"

More cats stood up and were now murmuring their agreements. Goldwing and his friends shared happy glances; at last, there was a peaceful way to solve this problem. They looked back at the leader, expecting him to roar at them to stop, but instead, he sighed instead and bowed his head.

_I don't think he'll bite._

"Okay, fine. We'll go with your plan. And StarClan guide your paws in this," the brown-gray tabby tom grumbled. "But there _is_ one problem: there are many cats living here that don't want to live here anymore. So how do we get them out of this hellhole?"

"We use some suckers!"

Goldwing, Silverheart, and the other cats turned to see Ashfeather, who had a crafty smile on his face as he stroked his jaw with his front paw. Goldwing knew that this was what he did while he was thinking instead of the old scratching the ear thing. However, he had no idea what the dark gray tabby tom was thinking of.

He was about to point this out, but Silverheart laid her tail on his shoulder as if to tell him not to interfere. Goldwing nodded and sat back down. Meanwhile, Tobias was clicking his beak very curiously and stretched his wings.

Meanwhile, the WaterClan tomcat was looking around with excitement as he went on, "What I'm saying is...you're all about to come down with a bad case of octopox!"

**...**

Both WaterClan cats worked together to push a bucket of water and about a dozen octopi to the rebellion outside the city. Goldwing watched with interest; now he knew what Ashfeather was meowing about when he mentioned the octopox. He was talking about his experience with the adorable little octopi squeaking as they left their marks on his face.

Ashfeather dipped his jaws into the water and managed to catch an octopus very gently; the other resistance cats, now aboveground, were watching with interest as one octopus after the other was applied to their fur until the suckers reached the skin. The octopi undulated a bit and left their red marks when removed. After some time, Ashfeather addressed a large crowd of sick looking cats and resistance fighters.

"Good job with patience!" the dark gray tabby cat was meowing. "Those marks will make you look sick, but you gotta act sick too! You gotta act like you've gotten greencough! Sell it out!"

Goldwing and Silverheart traded looks with each other. The two warriors could remember when greencough ravaged through the small pack and both WaterClan apprentices fell ill.

When they looked back, an old hairless tom with a wooden hind leg padded between Ashfeather and the crowd. He was groaning pitifully and coughing a bit while his naked tail trailed along the ground.

Ashfeather smiled at the tomcat and purred, "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Thank the moons of practice!" the old cat rasped, pointing his naked tail to his wooden leg.

The WaterClan warrior gave a nod while Goldwing and Silverheart pointed their muzzles to the city. Ashfeather followed their gaze and raised his voice so that every cat, excluding the FireClan cats, could hear him.

"Cats of MudClan! Get into your sick formations!"

All the MudClan cats nodded silently, for yowling would attract unwanted attention. They and Ashfeather padded left out of the city, determined to take the city back. Silverheart was going to join up with them since she had red marks on her face, but she turned about as the Avatar Cat padded in a different direction. Tobias cawed excitedly as they joined up with him.

"Hey, where the hell are you going?" she asked him. "Aren't you gonna join us?"

"No," Goldwing murmured, turning to face her. "Until I find Rockstar, I'll never give up."

What he said was true: he and Rockstar had been friends since before he himself had been frozen in the White Stone. He wasn't going to let anything stand in his way in fear of Rockstar getting killed. Even though he knew that the MudClan leader was a strong cat, Goldwing decided that he could deal with being rescued just for now.

Tobias flew onto Goldwing's lean shoulder and cawed while pointing his wing tip to his beak. Goldwing knew his hawk was hungry, but he could hunt for himself for a little bit. So he bucked up and down a little, making Tobias fly off his shoulder and glare at his owner.

"I'm sorry, Tobias. Maybe we can hunt later." With that done, the Avatar Cat leaped into the air and leapt onto the surrounding rooftops, bounding away.

**...**

As the sun rose in the sky, Ashfeather could see some FireClan warriors. He snickered as he imagined the horror that he could inflict onto the enemy while freeing lots of other cats in the process. He gave a wave of his tail and all of the cats began to follow him.

Zombie-like noises were heard from the throats of the cats as Ashfeather led the crowd of "sick" MudClan cats. Soon, it was clear to FireClan that cats were approaching, all moaning, some even falling over, "dead". Ashfeather, with his sister seen over his shoulder, were leading them, both covered in red splotches and moaning.

Then the FireClan cats backed away, now looking terrified at this phenomenon. "The plague has come to claim us all!" they yowled as they leaped away while others began wailing an alarm.

**...**

Back at the new Clan's governor's house, the pale gray Governor, his mate and their kit, Rose, and some warriors entered the upper window on their way to the balcony. They each leaped onto their spots on the railing (his mate grasping her kit in her jaws) and looked out over the city.

"What in Darkstar's name is going on?" the Governor asked a pale tabby guard who fled from the scene.

The guard panted as he mewed, "Yesterday, a patrol came to tell me that there were three young cats with a bad case of octopox! I think it must've spread into the city because there are many sick cats now!"

The Governor hissed as he flicked his tail to and fro, "I've heard of it before, but I didn't think it would come here!"

"How awful!" his mate gasped as she gently laid her kit (who was not weaned yet) down onto the floor so he could explore.

"So what do we do?" the pale tabby tom asked.

The Governor thought it over before finally making up his mind. "This is what you should do. Drive out those cats...but don't touch them or you'll become infected! We don't want any warrior to be infected! We need to get rid of this plague before it spreads to another place!"

The pale tabby guard lowered his head favorably to the Governor and left the balcony, kinking his tail to other warrior cats to follow him. Rose, meanwhile, pushed a bowl of Fire Gummies to her father, and the pale gray tom accepted them gratefully. His dark brown tabby mate leaned against her mate in a comforting way while the kit went away to explore all by himself.

**...**

As Goldwing AirBended himself through the city, he almost wailed aloud at seeing this good Clan be turned into extra FireClan territory. But he couldn't let himself weep; what was more important was to find and rescue Rockstar...wherever he was.

Suddenly, from a rooftop, he spotted a familiar white-furred purple-backed gorilla chained to a millstone. On his hind legs, the gorilla was pushing the turnstile that was driving the large mill. Goldwing saw that he was alone while performing this backbreaking work, grunting with pain.

Not wanting to see any more of this, Goldwing speedily leaped down towards him, thinking,_ He doesn't deserve this pain!_

"Fluffy!"

Goldwing padded forward and rubbed his body onto the gorilla's leg, expecting a hug and a kiss from him, but he saw with anger that Fluffy's leg was restrained by his chain. He made unhappy noises that made the golden tomcat wanting to help out Rockstar's pet as well as to help the iron-gray tom.

So he leaped onto the turnstile, WaterBended some water from a nearby container, and froze it around the chain where it was connected to the turnstile. Holding his staff in his jaws, he brought it down onto the ice, smashing the chain in the process. Fluffy lunged forward with joy, scooped Goldwing up in a hug, and happily kissed him all over.

Goldwing gave the gorilla a lick on the maw in return before Fluffy let him climb onto his back. "All right, Fluffy. We gotta find your owner together. Yip yip!"

But Fluffy did not move.

"Oh, I guess it doesn't work for you, eh? Well...move out!"

Immediately, Fluffy climbed over the wall with his strong hands and took off at high speed into the streets of MudClan. They were working together once again and it was to save their friend and owner.

**...**

Tobias flew through the air and landed on a railing at the Governor's palace. The red-tailed hawk entered through a window into a small nursery-like room. Suddenly, he saw a little stuffed dog bouncing up and down over the top of dressing panels near the back of the room, which was filled with kitten toys. He could even hear little squeaks of glee coming from the other room.

To his joy, he saw a plate of moles on a nearby table and flew over to it. He began to tear into two moles and spat out the bones over the art panels. Tobias didn't care if a predator snatched this mole away; he could get another mole. Suddenly, before Tobias could dig into another mole, he felt a pair of jaws painfully clamp onto his tail feathers; he turned to see a small creamy kit clinging onto them.

Dragging the kit behind him, Tobias tried hard to escape in fright. The kit let go for a while, and Tobias flapped out onto the railing of the balcony. He turned around to see that the tiny kit, still laughing and smiling, was following him. The kit lunged for Tobias but missed. The red-tailed hawk flew off, but the kit fell down the tiles of the roof and landed in a box of fish going down one of MudClan's many chutes.

Tobias landed on the box of fish and began eating a fish, only to have the kit emerge from the fish behind him. He looked over in horror at the kit, who grabbed his tail feathers in his jaws before he could react. The hawk swiftly flew into the air, beating his wings madly trying to get away. Finally, the box dropped off beneath them as it dropped down another chute. Tobias got airborne, but he couldn't bear the weight for too long. Soon, they were both dragging on the floor of a nearby plaza; the kit landed on top of Tobias, pinning him to the floor.

Suddenly, a swarm of moaning MudClan cats began to pass by them. Tobias got up and hobbled after the cats, and the kit followed him out of the city's main gate. Tobias thought this was weird; here he was, a hawk, a bird that ate kits, and he was now fleeing from a harmless kit. He felt that his ancestors would be very ashamed of him.

**...**

That night, Frostfire was staying in a vividly lit circus tent, and she could see some performers in two Chinese dragon costumes. The dragons jumped out of the FireClan deputy's way to reveal the ginger-&-white Circus Master addressing the crowd. Behind him was the circus' main ring.

"It is an honor to have the FireClan deputy seeing this great show tonight in our humble circus. Please tell us to make this enjoyable if this becomes boring for you," he was meowing to the black she-cat.

Frostfire and two FireClan cats were residing in a box seat high above him, richly decorated in red and orange FireClan livery. The rest of the circus looked empty, Frostfire thought as she narrowed her golden eyes. "I will," she finally purred.

A yowl from some other cats told her to settle down since the show was fixing to begin. Frostfire nodded her head and wrapped her tail around her paws, twitching her ears as her plan began to unfold in front of her. If this went well enough, she would have another cat beside her to join her before she got another one.

Then she looked above her head and saw a net stretched across the main ring. She could see Aya wearing colorful clothing over her white fur and a golden diadem-like head piece; she was also doing a head stand using one paw holding a short stick. This stick in turn was balanced on top of what looks like the frame of a small tent. Amazingly, this tent frame, in turn, was also balancing on a high wire.

"Hmmm...t_his_ looks exciting," Frostfire purred admirably, her golden eyes narrowing. "Are you sure she won't fall?"

"Yes." The ginger-&-white tom's gaze was filled with joy.

Frostfire decided to put her plan into full action; if she didn't, then she wouldn't stop Bearclaw from getting the Avatar Cat before her. So she meowed silkily, "What if you removed the cage from the ring? Wouldn't that make things interesting?"

Suddenly, the ginger-&-white tomcat's eyes turned from one of confidence to suspicious tension. Frostfire knew that if he didn't obey her, there would be consequences. But she understood the cat's concern...but just a little: the performers needed that net for performing and, without it, a ruined net would ruin everything.

"Oh, I understand," she decided. "Just set it on fire."

"Yes, ma'am," the Circus Master mewed.

He stood onto his haunches and shot a jet of flame from his mouth at the net, which promptly caught fire. Frostfire took the chance to look up at Aya's face, the fire from the net reflecting in her gray eyes as she still remained balanced on the high wire. She could hear a few chirps of fear spill from her lips as she continued to balance herself the best she could.

Frostfire purred up at her, "You're doing great, Aya! You can do it!" She looked at the burning net and turned back to the Circus Master. " I just have one more thing to ask you. May I?" The Circus Master nodded, and she went on, "I was wondering what kind of dangerous animals you have here besides a Diatryma?"

"Well..." the ginger-&-white tom rasped, for he was looking very frightened now. "Well, at this circus, we have..."

"Send them all out here! Let the fur fly!" Frostfire interrupted him.

The Circus Master gave a weary sigh and called out a yowl for the animals to come out. While Aya gulped with fear, Frostfire gave a small chuckle as she watched a Tasmanian Devil look up at Aya and bark irately. Several Great Danes threw it to the side and reared onto their hind legs, barking. Finally, the Diatryma screeched as it kept hitting its head to the pole, trying to push it down.

_It's working. Perfect._

**...**

Goldwing and Fluffy ran about, trying to find their friends, until they soon found Silverheart, Ashfeather, and the MudClan cats. They had just made up a new camp just outside the city without letting a FireClan cat stop them because of the "disease." Looking up at the full moon, Goldwing waited until Fluffy stopped beside the cats, then he leaped down to join his friends.

"Did you find him yet?" Ashfeather asked him.

"No. We searched everywhere," Goldwing sighed sadly, feeling his ears droop and his heart wrench. He might never see his friend ever again. "But we couldn't find him or his scent."

Silverheart gave him a concerned smile and pushed her muzzle into his neck fur as Ashfeather rubbed himself against Fluffy, who whimpered sadly and held his face in his hands. If Rockstar was killed, the only chance for Goldwing to learn EarthBending would be gone, and he would lose his oldest friend.

While this went on, the big gray/brown tabby Resistance Leader padded to them and gave a sigh. "We just went through a census, and we have a new problem."

"Why?" Silverheart asked him, worry in her dark blue eyes. "Did we leave a cat behind?"

"Hell, no. We have an addition to our pack. And it's a FireClan cat."

Then he moved aside so they could see Tobias walking to the left of the camp, a terrified look on his face due to a cream-colored kit attached to him around his neck. The kit was laughing as he hugged the scared hawk while Tobias clumsily flapped away to the center of the camp. The Clan cats and the Resistance Leader watched Tobias drag the kitten around.

Goldwing observed the kit closely; this little kit looked as if he was around one moon old and he wasn't even weaned yet. He understood this because he had been taken away from his parents before his own suckling period could end. But they had no choice, for he decided to go ahead and let the kit stay in the camp.

"So what do we do with him?" he asked his friends.

Before Ashfeather could speak, Silverheart spoke up, "Maybe we can search for some borage." When they both looked at her weirdly, she added, "Until we get him back to his parents, I'll be the one to feed him."

Goldwing nodded and Ashfeather had no choice but to agree.

**...**

The pale gray Governor of MudClan growled with anger as he sat on the railing of the stone balcony while his mate was sobbing wildly into his shoulder fur. Rose had just handed her some moss to cry her eyes out into, but that still didn't calm her down.

"So that's what happened? Those wretched shits stole my kit?" the pale gray tomcat growled. Then he hissed with an irritated tone, "So that's why everything went so difficult and clever. They've become like their leader."

"What'll we do?" the same pale tabby warrior asked him.

The Governor turned around on the spot to face him as he snarled with anger. He looked around to look out over the city again, thinking of a plan.

**...**

_My plan is unfolding. Just act like it's all cool. _Frostfire kept telling herself as she padded over to Aya's tent, dead daisies in her jaws. When she entered, she dumped the dead flowers onto a desk and looked at her friend. The white she-cat was fixing herself up as she looked into the mirror, slipping out of her dress to free her white pelt.

"That was a wonderful show out there!" Frostfire praised Aya as she prowled over to her and sat beside her. Deciding to let her plan finally unfold, she added, "I wish you can make your show much better tomorrow!"

Aya looked around at her friend and gave her a smile.

"Frostfire, I'm not able to make another show tomorrow," she meowed. When Frostfire let her golden eyes narrow with pretend surprise, she went on, "You and the universe showed me a lot about the outer world. And you've given me hints of wanting to alter my career and also change my life. It would be an honor to join you, the FireClan deputy, on your mission."

At this, the FireClan loner nodded her head to her friend and Frostfire nodded back respectfully. She pressed her nose to her head while Aya leaned forward to lick the black she-cat's shoulder. Inside, Frostfire was rejoicing; her first part of the mission was completed and she was smiling widely, happy that she got her way once again.

**...**

With a yowl, Goldwing pounced on the starling, which was fixing to flee after pulling a worm out of the ground. With a bite to the neck, he killed it with a respectful blow, thanking StarClan for this prey. Then he picked up the dead bird in his jaws and padded back to the camp, where Tobias was still dragging the kit around.

Silverheart padded to the fire and laid down on her side to show her soft furry belly. Goldwing knew that, just in a few minutes ago, Silverheart had managed to get enough borage to eat, and she was now producing enough milk to feed the kit. This was the first time ever that his crush would ever feed a kit herself.

When Tobias dropped the creamy kit, he gave a caw of relief and flew off into a sycamore tree to spend the night. Then the kit padded near Ashfeather and quickly pounced onto his badger bone boomerang. Quickly, and quite harshly, Ashfeather rose from his spot, swiped the weapon away, and gave the kit a cuff on the ear, hissing, "No! Bad kit!"

Goldwing shook his head, knowing that this was not the way to handle kits, for the kit began to whimper and wail loudly. Silverheart sat up and glared crossly at her dark gray tabby littermate, gave him a cuff on the ear in return, and pointed her paw at the wailing kit. Her brother looked a bit guilty, but he didn't seem to want to admit it.

"Dammit. Fine," Ashfeather sighed and gave the boomerang back to the kit.

And the kit, as soon as he got his "toy" back, stopped crying immediately. But as soon as it was handed to him, he quickly lost interest in it, for there was a little gurgling sound; the kit must be hungry by now. Silverheart nudged the kit over to her side and quickly laid down onto her other side, purring as the kit latched onto a teat and began to suckle. Goldwing padded to the feeding kit and gave him a lick on the head while the kit kneaded Silverheart's belly with his tiny paws.

"Awww!" Silverheart cooed as the kit looked up at her with a splash of milk on his lip. "Aren't you just so cute? Yes you are!" The kit let out a giggle and leaped into her white paws, laughing as the silvery-gray she-cat licked his ticklish belly.

"He might be a cute little kit right now," the brown/gray tabby Resistance Leader warned her as he sat near the fire and watched them, "but when that kit becomes a warrior one day, he'll join his army. When he becomes a monster, you won't be thinking of him as cute then."

Silverheart looked up at him with narrowed eyes as she retorted, "Does he look like a monster to you? _I_ don't think so." The kit began whining again, for he was still hungry, so she gently nudged him back to her belly, where he latched onto the same nipple again and continued to suckle.

Abruptly, a large Great Gray Owl and a peregrine falcon flew down to them, their forms framed by the moonlight. As the falcon landed on the rock where the cats were resting near, Silverheart wrapped her tail around the nursing kit, preparing to defend him. But there was no need for that.

Instead, the Great Gray Owl hooted, "I escorted him here; he has a message for you. Glad to help you cats out."

"Thank you, Twilight," the Resistance leader meowed in return.

Goldwing gave the owl a nod and Twilight nodded back; he had heard from Goldenstripe of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, knightly owls that rose each night to perform honorable deeds. These owls lived on the other side of the world, and Twolegs were gone from there just as well as their own side of the world. With a final hoot, Twilight flew off into the night.

Ashfeather kinked his head toward the Resistance leader, who was untying a message from the falcon's leg. Then he kinked his tail towards Goldwing as if to encourage him to go ahead and read the message. Since the message was for him all right, the golden AirClan Avatar Cat took the message and read through it. When he finished, he gasped with pure shock and amazement.

When his friends gave him a concerned look, Goldwing told them, "The FireClan Governor just sent us this message. He thinks we're the ones that took his kit. So he wants to make a trade with us. If we give his son back...then he'll give Rockstar back to us."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

As the kit hung from his jaws, Goldwing felt that this was a good chance for returning him; it was also a good chance for Rockstar to be saved. At first, he was tempted to drop the kit and fetch it some prey, but he didn't want to leave him there while there were predators or FireClan cats were around; if they showed up, the deal would be off.

Goldwing had been sitting on a tall rock as he observed the territory when a yowl made him look down. Ashfeather and Silverheart were gazing up at him and Goldwing remembered what had happened that night; Silverheart had found and eaten some parsley roots to make her milk dry up since she couldn't feed the kit anymore. Plus, he heard her say he bit a little too hard while he was suckling.

"Hey, Goldwing," Ashfeather meowed to his friend with concern in his voice. "Do you think that this may be a trap?"

Goldwing shook his head carefully because of the kit in his jaws. Setting him down, the Avatar Cat replied, "No. I'm positive that the Governor wants his kit back as badly as we want Rockstar back. Besides, it's a new day," he added hopefully as the sun shone down onto his golden fur, turning it to the color of fire. "I think we're gonna have good luck today."

**...**

As Frostfire and Aya sat in the curtained podium that the warrior cats were carrying, Frostfire felt her new goal approach quickly. Her other old friend was a real master at throwing weapons at her enemies; besides, she could use her as Bearclaw's weakness.

A thud from under them told the two she-cats that they had arrived at the place they were going to. When they pushed the curtains back to leap out of the platform and onto the ground, they saw a familiar dark tortoiseshell she-cat stalking down a white staircase. One look at her friends and the tortoiseshell was already facing Frostfire and Aya.

"Thank whoever that you two came," she meowed, bowing and speaking in a dull voice. "Just kill me so I won't see this place anymore." But she had an amused look on her face while she said that; she even purred with her friends when Frostfire stepped forward to rub her muzzle against hers.

The FireClan deputy pulled back from her, purring, "It's good to see you again, Rose."

When Aya took her turn to do the same thing as Frostfire did, Rose gave her a puzzled stare as she pulled back from her. "Hey, Aya. Didn't you go join the circus before we finished our own training? I thought you said that was your calling?"

"It was," Aya replied while smiling brightly at her. "But Frostfire called louder than my own calling. So here I am!"

Frostfire stepped forward between them, wanting her mission to unfold, and she knew it would be executed perfectly. All that was left to do was to capture the Avatar Cat, and then they would capture her treacherous littermate and her lazy uncle.

"All right, you two," she spoke up, and they turned to look around at her. "Darkstar has given me an assignment to do, and I can't do this without you." At this, she laid her tail on each of their shoulders, just one at a time.

"Sure," Rose meowed at once. "As long as I get away from this shit dump."

Rose had padded off and fetched her parents to come and welcome their Clan deputy to their city. After that had been done, the pale gray Governor allowed the black she-cat to sit in his seat so that she could view all those around her. With this position, she could observe any behavior in and out of MudClan and nothing in the city could stop her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the Governor was pleading with the black she-cat. He was crouching low in front of her while his family and Frostfire's small pack surrounded him. Meanwhile, Frostfire herself was surrounded by a few cats as bodyguards. "It's just that you've come to us while we're in a bad state. Right at sunhigh, we're trading with the Resistance to get our kit back."

Frostfire just nodded coldly at him and replied, "I see. I'm sorry to hear of your son's capture." Her tail started to twitch as she went on briskly, "Tell me why you'd think that if you let the cats wander off by themselves." Her voice began to rise to anger as she hissed, "My father Darkstar trusted you to govern this new city, and what do I see? A bombsite made by you!" she snarled, swiping at the air with her claws.

The pale gray cat lowered himself lower to the ground as he pleaded, "I'm sorry. Have mercy on me and my family!"

"Okay, look," she told him, her anger fading as she stood up. "Rose, Aya, and I are going to the trade; you stay here. Rose is going to handle the hostage so that you won't screw it up this time. Also, MudClan is therefore extinct. This Clan shall be named after my father and all of his glory: DarkClan."

**...**

Goldwing and his WaterClan friends finally made it inside the city without much fuss; they were now ready for the trade. The three young Clan warriors were now standing at the bottom of the platform of a statue that was under construction as they looked ahead with defiance. Ashfeather was holding the kit in his jaws, and the dark gray tabby tom didn't even snarl as he batted at his throat with sheathed paws.

Goldwing felt his disguising black stripe fur bristle as he saw a black she-cat approach them as she leaped onto the platform. Those golden eyes reminded him of Bearclaw, except that these eyes were scarier with a more cunning look. Beside the she-cat were two more she-cats; one was white with black ears, a black tail tip, pale gray stripes, and gray eyes while the other was an amber-eyed tortoiseshell.

The two packs faced each other at opposite ends of the construction platform; the air was now filled with tension. At the top of the platform, a crane was lowering a gray metal coffin hanging by a chain. Inside, Goldwing was relieved that he could hear the usual laughing and snorting of Rockstar. Sure enough, the coffin twisted on the chain to reveal the iron-gray tom's face, visible through a porthole just large enough for his face.

"Hi, everybody!" the crazy MudClan leader called out happily.

Goldwing fought the urge to shout greetings back to him and he felt frustration toward his friend. After this would be over, he had some stern words to tell him. _Oh, he and I _will_ enjoy that, _he thought darkly. Meanwhile, the coffin landed standing straight up behind the black she-cat and her pack.

The dark tortoiseshell she-cat stepped forward and meowed, "So you've got my brother."

"Yes. My friend has him ready for you," Goldwing replied, pointing to Ashfeather with his tail and then bowing to them. "We're all ready to trade."

But as Rockstar stared around and grinned like a fool, the black-furred she-cat stepped forward and sat by her friend. She turned around to face the tortoiseshell she-cat as she meowed, "Sorry to interrupt, Rose, but a new thought struck my mind. May I tell you that?"

"Yes, Frostfire," Rose replied politely.

Goldwing didn't know what made the FireClan warrior interrupt the trade like this, and he felt the happiness inside him earlier harden into suspicion. He had a bad feeling that this cat seemed like trouble; he couldn't help but to mistrust her. So he twitched his ears around to try and listen to what the she-cats were mewing about.

"Are we really going to trade a one-moon-old kit for a Clan leader?" Frostfire asked her friend rhetorically. She looked up at Rockstar and went on, "Not only that, but a very powerful Clan leader? One that can EarthBend?"

"Yep!" Rockstar called happily from above as he nodded.

Frostfire gave him a weird look as if he was a dog that threw up on her before she turned back to Rose. She leaned in close and whispered into her ear, "Does that seem like a fair trade to you?"

Rose looked over at her little cream-colored brother, who was swinging around in a circle by the scruff in Ashfeather's jaws. She seemed to be thinking hard about the situation as if her friend just gave out a reasonable argument. Goldwing was hoping that the dark tortoiseshell she-cat would accept the trade and Rockstar would be saved.

_Please accept the trade._

But what he had hoped did not come; instead, Rose meowed to Frostfire, "Yeah, you're right," before turning around to face Goldwing. "You know what? Screw the trade, dumbasses. We're not going on with this trade."

She raised her tail into the air, and Rockstar was lifted back off the ground as the long chain was reeled in from above. But Rockstar didn't look upset; instead, he seemed to be enjoying himself as he cheered, "Woo-hoo! I'll see ya later!"

_Rockstar! _Goldwing thought with horror as he, Silverheart, and Ashfeather watched him being hauled away; he continued to cackle and snort like a warthog. The golden Avatar Cat didn't want to lose another friend like he lost Goldenstripe, his mentor in AirClan.

Letting out a yowl, he leaped forwards towards the three she-cats. As he approached, Frostfire Bended a cloud of whitish blue fire at head level towards Goldwing, who leaped high into the air to avoid it; he was shocked at seeing a cat Bend blue fire. He landed and part of the partly built building and jumped off again. Goldwing opened his glider while in the air, but his black stripes faded, exposing his white arrow stripes. He quickly flipped himself away from them, but it was too late.

"So you're the Avatar cat, eh?" Frostfire purred with a smug sneer even scarier than her golden eyes. "Looks like my lucky day has come."

The black she-cat sprinted over to the elevator winch and released the break with a swipe from her claws bathed in blue flames. The winch began to spin rapidly as Frostfire grabbed one of the chains attached to the mechanism with her jaws. The winch raised her rapidly toward the top of the construction scaffolding.

Goldwing had just landed on top of Rockstar's small prison when the old MudClan leader looked up at him with delight in his amber and crooked green eyes. "Hello, Goldpaw!" the iron-colored gray tom called up to him happily. "Is that you? Where'd you come from?"

"No time!" Goldwing mewed. "We'll get you out of here. And I'm a warrior now; my warrior name is Goldwing."

The AirClan Avatar Cat took a deep breath and began to blow on the chain connecting the coffin to the crane, slowly freezing it. He hoped to free him in time before Frostfire caught them.

**...**

Down below, Rose and Aya, Frostfire's two friends, leaped at Silverheart and Ashfeather, their claws unsheathed. Two blades extended from Rose's bag, and she pointed them at the WaterClan siblings, who watched the charge in horror. Silverheart was already in her WaterBending battle stance while Ashfeather blew on the dragon whistle in the background.

"Ashfeather, get the kit outta here!" Silverheart called to her brother.

Her dark gray tabby littermate nodded as he stopped the whistling. "I'm on it!"

The creamy kit grabbed the whistle, and Silverheart and Ashfeather raced over to the edge of the building platform. Suddenly, claws swiped at Ashfeather's back paw as he passed from a hole in the floor. The dark gray tabby warrior ended up sprawled out to the edge of the platform, but he landed on his back, protecting the kitten from harm.

Silverheart looked down the platform to Ashfeather and saw Aya leap out of a trap door in the floor and head to the two other cats. She created some Ice Claws and prepared to strike the white she-cat, but she turned in time to use the Ice Claws to raise up some wood from the floor to block the blades that Rose just hurled at her.

The blades buried themselves deep in the timber planks, and Silverheart used the Claws to throw the wood at Rose, then she turned around and caught Aya's tail. The white warrior fell flat on the ground as Ashfeather carefully climbed down a ladder with the kit. Meanwhile, Silverheart threw Rose away from her when the tortoiseshell pounced at her. The silver queen turned about to see her brother running away from the battle with the kit in his jaws.

_Thank StarClan._

**...**

Meanwhile, Rockstar and Goldwing were still being raised with the coffin. Goldwing was still blowing on the chain, trying to get his old friend free from his prison.

"Goldwing, stop blowing for a bit," Rockstar was trying to say, but he wasn't listening. "I need to tell you something."

Already, the chain was now encased in ice where it met the coffin. Suddenly, an explosion of dust announced the arrival of Frostfire. Goldwing could see her leap high into the air after having been carried up at high speed by the energy of the winch below.

As she reached the height of her arc, she released a blast of blue fire from her jaws at Goldwing. But as the blast came at him and Rockstar, he deflected it with his staff, but the chain holding the coffin broke off.

Rockstar looked up at his old friend and rasped, "Just hold on...whoa!" he yowled as the chain broke and they fell together.

But right before they were about to hit one of MudClan's chutes, he created a huge AirBall that deflected their fall. They landed in the chute and began to ride down it like the old days, except that this was not time for games. A sudden creaking noise made Goldwing turn to see Frostfire chasing after them in another box. Scowling, she had jumped into a nearby box, which fell into a nearby chute.

"It's like the old days, eh, Rockstar?" Goldwing purred to his friend, forgetting his anger.

But Rockstar didn't have the glint in his eyes right now, even though the Avatar Cat was still ignoring that. Instead, he mewed, "Goldwing, I just need to talk with you!"

Goldwing still ignored him, not understanding because of the noise. "Good to see you too!"

But he looked up in horror to see Frostfire riding the box in a chute just above them. He began to twist his staff fast to dispel the blue fire bolts rapid fired at them by the FireClan warrior. Their chutes merged together, and Frostfire was now right behind them. Goldwing launched a strong wind at her, but she parted it with a claw swipe with her paws in front of her. She followed them, launching more fire blasts at him.

Finally, they entered a portion of the chute that had arches over it at short intervals. Goldwing blasted these with wind, and they came tumbling down on the chute between Frostfire and them. The she-cat and the box disappeared as they entered the dust cloud of the fallen arches. The box emerged from the other side without the black warrior.

_Good!_

Goldwing let out a sigh of relief, but his relief turned to horror as Frostfire stood up from where she had fallen. He let out a yowl as she launched another blue blast of fire, but Goldwing leapt to one side and avoided it.

**...**

Silverheart let out a yowl as she leaped at Rose, but she missed when the tortoiseshell crouched low to avoid the water. As she crouched low, she hurled another blade from her a device around her ankle, but Silverheart blocked it with a wall of ice. The she-cat leaped for the silver warrior, her tail waving around like a war banner. As she leapt at her foe, Silverheart encased Rose's front paw in water and froze it. The dark tortoiseshell tried to break the ice with her free paw, but she failed.

"Give up?" Silverheart growled at her.

Rose just glared at her and sneered, "Never!"

Suddenly, Aya jumped up onto the platform and pounced at Silverheart. She methodically jabbed various pressure points on the silver she-cat; it apparently caused her Ice Claws to fade and fall to the ground, useless, and the ice around Rose's paw melted. Then the white she-cat leapt over her to stand by her friend.

Alarmed, Silverheart recovered and got into another battle stance. She tried to raise the water from the platform with her tail, but nothing happened. She was shocked; this cat had quickly and briefly disabled her Bending, and there was some pain in the places where she was jabbed.

_StarClan's kits...what did this cat do to me?_

Both FireClan she-cats stood in front of Silverheart, waiting for her to do something. "Now are YOU going to give up?" Rose sneered.

Then she pulled out another blade from her bag, a three pointed device that unfolded into a talon-shaped throwing star. Silverheart gasped with terror as the dark tortoiseshell she-cat got ready to throw; she could almost feel the device slicing her jugular vein, the vein where life continued to thrive. If that was cut, a cat could die from blood loss.

But while Rose was ready to toss her weapon, the familiar badger bone boomerang entered the fight from behind Rose and knocked the star out of her jaws. Silverheart looked in time to see Ashfeather swooping down towards them while riding on Archie.

"See? I told you I'm on it!" he crowed as he head-butted Aya away. He leapt off of Archie, who landed between Silverheart and her would-be murderers. The dragon's long whip-like tail fell down and smashed the platform in between them, throwing the she-cats away and making them crash into a wall.

Silverheart, with a grateful meow to her brother, climbed up on Archie with the dark gray cat following her. When Archie lifted off and flew around in the air, Silverheart thought she saw a small speck that was followed by another speck down the chutes of MudClan. That could be Goldwing...

"Ashfeather! There he is!" she called as she pointed her tail toward them.

Ashfeather nodded. "We'll get to them in time!"

**...**

Meanwhile, back at the chutes, Frostfire threw blast after blast of blue fire ahead at her foes. Goldwing, meanwhile, deflected them as Archie came beside them with his friends on board.

"Rockstar, hold on!" he yowled to his old friend. "We'll get you a ride!"

Goldwing struck the side of the chute with his paw, launching the coffin out of the chute. Right away, Silverheart and Ashfeather tried to grab the coffin in their jaws as it passed overhead, but they missed. The coffin sailed over Archie and fell down the other side, Rockstar screeching on the way down.

They landed diagonally on another chute and broke right through it. They fell through to another chute, this time landing lengthways and they began to slide down once more.

Frostfire continued to chase them in her box; she created a circular blade of blue fire and flung it at the sarcophagus. As it approached, Rockstar strained in his bonds and caused a pillar of earth to rise up through the channel just in time to take up the blast. The black warrior leapt out of her box just as it crashed on the pillar of earth. She slid to a halt in the chute, looking displeased as she watched her targets slide away.

Meanwhile, Rockstar's coffin began to steep down as it reached the bottom. Goldwing, however, was completely shocked, but then it turned to anger at his old friend. Rockstar could EarthBend all along and chose to not use it! _How could he?_

"What the...? You can EarthBend? _All along_?" he screeched.

Rockstar chuckled, "Be glad they didn't cover my face!"

The iron-gray tomcat strained again within his bonds as they arrived at the end of the chute. An outcropping of rock appeared, and the coffin hit it as it left the chute and stood straight up on the newly raised rock. Goldwing now looked up at the MudClan leader in his own coffin.

Then the AirBending cat meowed, "I don't understand." His voice rose with anger as he hissed, "Rockstar, why the hell didn't you free yourself? Why'd you yield to FireClan without fighting? What in StarClan's name is wrong with you?"

But Rockstar didn't look upset by the harsh words thrown at him like the wind. On the contrary, he looked amused at this reaction. But his face turned grave as he meowed to him, "Goldwing, I've tried to talk to you, and here's the chance. You know there are options in fighting called Jin, right? It's a choice to decide what to do with your energy."

"I know that!" Goldwing retorted, not sorry for his words. He flicked his tail two times as he counted, "There's positive Jin for fighting, and there's also negative Jin for fleeing..."

"...and neutral Jin for nothing!" Rockstar finished, cackling.

Goldwing's annoyance gave way to confusion, making him feel startled. From what Goldenstripe told him, there were only two kinds of Jin: positive for fighting and negative for fleeing. He had never known that there was a neutral Jin used for doing nothing.

Shaking his head, he tried counting his tail flicks and squeaked, "There are _three_ Jin?"

Rockstar replied, "Well, there's actually eighty-five in all, but we'll focus on the third." Clearing his throat, he explained, "The true key to EarthBending is not just strength; there is also neutral Jin. Neutral Jin involves listening, crouching, and waiting for the perfect chance to strike. It's like an advanced version of the Lightning Strike."

Now Goldwing understood why Rockstar surrendered, and he could speak it out now. "So _that's_ why you surrendered without fighting. You were waiting for the best time to strike?"

"Yes."

Goldwing opened his mouth, ready to apologize for calling him a coward. But Rockstar waved him off, adding, "Ah, don't apologize. You just didn't know!"

Goldwing and Rockstar laughed happily, feeling that this _was_ the old times. When they finished, Goldwing's joy faded away as he turned away from his friend, feeling disappointed. He realized that Rockstar wasn't the right cat to teach him, and he had to find someone else.

"I guess I better find a new EarthBending mentor, huh?"

He turned back to see the MudClan leader nodding at him. "It appears so. But your EarthBending mentor will be a master of neutral Jin. You'll need to find the one who waits and strikes!"

A caw above them made Goldwing look up to see Tobias flying down to him and landing on his shoulder. "Hey, Tobias!" Goldwing purred.

"And I see Tobias has learned some Jin himself!" Rockstar cackled.

Tobias looked up at Rockstar and screeched.

"And goodbye, Goldwing! The time will come when we meet again soon."

Without any more words to say, Rockstar fell back, and his coffin tumbled back into the chute. Snorting maniacally, the iron-gray tomcat used his EarthBending powers to drive his coffin back up the chute.

Goldwing watched him go with sadness, hoping that they could at least meet up again sooner. There was no telling what would happen if they met again. But if they did, it would have to be some time after the War came to an end. Yet there was one more thing to do...

**...**

Frostfire turned to stare angrily back at the city, her tongue lapping over a wound on her chest from where she fell. She had accidentally let the Avatar Cat get away; however, unlike Bearclaw or Thornflare, she would never turn away from the path of her mission.

The FireClan deputy turned to look over at her friends; even though they had some wounds from fighting the Avatar Cat's pack, they were well enough to pad beside her moving podium. Aya looked excited while Rose looked bored as usual.

"So we're gonna look for your littermate and your uncle, eh?" Rose yawned.

Aya nudged her friend playfully before purring teasingly to her, "And I think it'll be great if you and Bearclaw see each other again! Right?"

Rose just looked away from her friend and gave a small smile to herself.

"Let's get back to business," Frostfire cut in, waving off another averting chat. "We're not just hunting down my uncle or my brother now. We have a new target as well."

**...**

Goldwing crouched low on the balcony where he and the kit hid at in the dusky city; speaking of the kit, he dangled from the golden tom's jaws and cooed at the sight of his parents. Recalling when he licked the top of his head while Silverheart was suckling him, he set him down and gave the kit one more lick on the ears before picking him up and leaping down.

On the patio, he could see the pale gray Governor giving his mate, a dark brown tabby queen, a comforting lick on the head while she stared on ahead, tears in her amber eyes. Feeling sorry for them, Goldwing leapt down gently, set the kit softly onto the veranda, and nudged him forward before leaping back into the shadows as quietly as he came.

"Creamkit!"

The sound made Goldwing turn back; Creamkit finally crawled toward his parents, and the two cats purred with pure joy as they nuzzled him and licked him. Giving a small smile at them, Goldwing padded away, but not before hearing the parents meow:

"Thank you, whoever you are..."

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: This took me quite a while to finish this chapter. Sorry if this took too long to update, everyone.**

**Katara: It's okay.**

**Aang: I even heard that you're making the new Avatar Cat series with the cat form of Korra. Is that true?**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah, it's true. Like Garfield said, I don't have as much patience as I once did. So I'll be updating that and Book 3 really soon.**

**Aang: That's a good thing. And is it okay if I say the review thing and the preview for The Mangroves? (AvatarCat12 nods) Thanks! (To the readers) Those who review this chapter will get a virtual Korra or Tenzin plush doll from the new series. We don't allow flames on this story; they'll be used for extra fire in Pro Bending. And we allow constructive criticism and advice, as long as it's not harsh.**

**Preview: After a tornado freak accident, Goldwing and his friends get lost in a mangrove swamp, where strange things are afoot. When spirits start to appear before them, will they guess if they are either real or fake? Meanwhile, Bearclaw is tired of begging to strangers like dogs. What will he do to avoid all this?**

**All three: See ya next time! And Happy early Easter!**


	5. The Mangroves

**Katara: So Warriors: The Last Hope is nearly here, right?**

**Aang: Sure is! And let's not forget After The Flood!**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. I wonder what'll attack SkyClan next?**

**Aang: Maybe a drought?**

**Katara: Or foxes?**

**AvatarCat12: Who knows? Now we'll go on with the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: Neither of these series are mine. They belong to Bryke and Erin Hunter.**

**Summary: After a tornado freak accident, Goldwing and his friends get lost in a mangrove swamp, where strange things are afoot. When spirits start to appear before them, will they guess if they are either real or fake? Meanwhile, Bearclaw is tired of begging to strangers like dogs. What will he do to avoid all this?**

**Uploading Date: March 31, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_The Mangroves_

Bearclaw let out a hiss of irritation as he glared at the passing cats while Irontail finished the last bite of his shrew. The two FireClan rogues were resting at a village on a street carpet with their stolen pinto mare behind them. Irontail was holding a hat between his paws while a cart adorned with masks for sale passed by them; one of them was the Red Demon mask that Bearclaw wore.

As the cart passed by, another tabby prowled in front of Irontail. The fat gray tabby cat nudged his hat to the tabby and spoke kindly. "May you spare change for hungry cats?"

With a sympathetic glance, the tom tossed a few copper coins into the elder's hat, joining a dozen already in there. When he was gone, Bearclaw glared at his uncle. They weren't rogues; they were supposed to be Clan cats and be given some kind of gift, not work for them.

"Uncle Irontail, this is an outrage!" he snarled, unable to hold his anger. "We're not rogues; we're Clan cats! These cats should welcome us with respect!"

Irontail didn't listen to the rudeness. Instead, he meowed warmly, "Ah, but they will. But they will if you ask them nicely!"

Bearclaw sighed; he couldn't stand begging like a dog going to get a treat. But he had no choice but to watch as Irontail took his hat again and shoved it to a neat light gray tabby she-cat.

"May you spare some change for a hungry cat?" Irontail begged.

"Of course I can!" the light gray she-cat purred, taking a bag off from around her neck. She set it down and waited until a silver coin rolled out and took it to drop into the hat. As the coin joined the others, the she-cat smiled and purred, "I'm glad you're happy!"

"The coin is valued indeed, but it's not as much as the smile of a cat," Irontail meowed kindly to her. Bearclaw rolled his eyes; his uncle could be so...embarrassing.

The she-cat gave a purr to the two toms and padded away, but another cat filled in the spot where she left. This one was a large ginger tabby tom with a sharp dagger in his jaws and scars on his body. He stopped when he saw the two FireClan rogues and he turned around to face them.

Bearclaw didn't trust him. There was something about him that he didn't like.

"Hey, you two!" he jeered at them. "How about you provide some showbiz? And in exchange of your cooperation, I'll give you a gold, I repeat, GOLD Galleon!" As he finished, he dropped a bag to the ground, and a galleon rolled out of there in front of the fat gray tabby.

Bearclaw thought to himself, _I'm a FireClan cat! I don't take orders from him! _Out loud, he just muttered, "Sorry, but we're not street performers."

But Irontail rose to his paws and added, "Not the best there is, but we'll give it a shot!"

Then, to Bearclaw's pure mortification, his uncle opened his jaws and began singing loudly so that other cats were watching them. Irontail shifted from one paw to another as he rocked back and forth and sang:

"_It's a long, long way to BoulderClan,_

_But the queens in the city look so prett-ay!"_

However, the ginger tabby wasn't pleased, for he growled, "Get on with it, old ass! We're talking about a galleon here!"

Then, to Bearclaw's rage, the ginger tabby tom let out a snarl and leaped at Irontail, making false swipes at him. Irontail dodged quickly from side to side as he danced and sang:

"_And they smell so sweet that you really have to meet the queens of BoulderClan!"_

Bearclaw let a small growl escape his throat as he watched. This was what he meant about not wanting to be a rogue: having to do what other cats told you to do, forage for food, and not having Clanmates around you. But Irontail didn't seem to mind, even though the ginger tabby was taking swipes at him.

As the fat gray tabby tom stopped dancing, the violent ginger tabby purred with amusement and praised him. "There's nothing like watching a fat old bear dance for his food! Here you go!" he added, shoving the coin toward them and stalking off.

Irontail looked at the ginger tabby tom stalk off, and the crowds went away before he picked up the coin and dropped it into the hat. Then he gave a cheery sigh and leaned back against the wall so that he watched the cats go by past him.

"That cat was very nice, wasn't he?"

But Bearclaw gave a snarl and laid down, preparing for his second nap of the day. This was yet another thing he hated: continuous naps. In a Clan, warriors worked hard to feed and protect their Clan, not laze around like dormice. But there was no arguing there, and he had no choice but to close his eyes and fall asleep.

_I wish my life can just turn around. You know...just swim upstream and back to my home. But I can't. Not yet._

**...**

A drop of water fell from the sky and landed on Goldwing's nose; in return, the golden warrior licked it off with his tongue. It was several days after Rockstar politely refused to join them, for the iron-gray tom was waiting for a chance to free MudClan from FireClan. Now he, Silverheart, and Ashfeather were looking for a new EarthBending mentor, and Archie was carrying them to StarClan knew where.

He looked behind him to see his friends looking quite bored. Silverheart was sprawled out on her belly as she studied the WaterBending scroll Snowstorm gave her; she looked indistinctly bored. Ashfeather was sitting on his rear as he sharpened his claws on his badger-bone boomerang, also looking bored. But Goldwing didn't feel bored; instead, he felt something tug at his mind.

It was like being attracted to catmint, a useful herb that saved their lives a few moons ago. There seemed to be some kind of message between Goldwing and the swamp that he was studying, but its nature was unclear; he just felt it in his mind. The Avatar Cat felt it calling to him.

As he began lowering Archie to the swamp, the two other cats pulled their blankets over their heads. Then Ashfeather asked him, "Hey Goldwing. Why're you taking us down?"

"Huh?" Goldwing turned to face him. He didn't even notice he was bringing them down. "Am I doing something?"

"Well, do you notice _now_?" Ashfeather snapped, padding up to join his friend.

Silverheart padded up beside her brother, a worried look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

Goldwing looked at them before looking down at the mangrove-like swamp with a rather fiercely determined look on his face. "Well...I know only StarClan can call me, but...I-I think the swamp down there is calling to me."

He could hear Ashfeather's belly grumble as the dark gray tabby tom growled, "I hope that mind of yours tells you where to find some fresh-kill. I'm starving like a damn fox!"

"It's not that," Goldwing protested. "The swamp's telling us to land in there."

"Look," Ashfeather meowed, stepping back to the saddle, "I don't wanna insult the swamp or anything, but I didn't see anywhere where we could land."

Goldwing looked back and saw that he was right; there wasn't much to land on. "But Rockstar told me I have to learn to wait and listen to learn EarthBending. And now...I can hear the Earth below! Are you telling me to ignore it?"

Ashfeather rolled his pale blue eyes. "What else?"

Archie continued to go down towards the swamp, ignoring the rain splattering his pelt. The two WaterClan siblings and Tobias peered over the saddle to look as they got closer to the swamp. But Goldwing wasn't going to let them tell him to go away; he had to investigate closer.

"I'm not sure, Goldwing." Silverheart's meow made Goldwing turn around towards her. "I agree with Ashfeather. There's something evil about that swamp. It's like going into ShadowClan."

Tobias cawed loudly and Ashfeather turned to look at him.

"See? Even that swamp gives Tobias the creeps!" the dark gray tabby warrior added.

"All right! Fine!" Goldwing snapped. He wanted to find the source of what was attracting him to the swamp, but it looked like that his friends were too scared to go. "Since you're all too scared to go to the swamp, we'll leave! Are you happy now?"

When they nodded, Goldwing sighed and turned to the swamp, mewing sarcastically, "We'll see ya later, swamp. Yip yip, Archie!"

Archie groaned in reply and flew out to the upper sky as he gathered speed.

But as Archie and the three cats moved away, however, they heard a loud noise coming from out of nowhere. A moment later, a large tornado entered the area; it was moving fast towards them. It moved at terrifying speed in pursuit of the pack, tearing up the swamp as it went. As Goldwing shivered in fright toward the tornado, Ashfeather and Silverheart turned to see it coming at them, Ashfeather's blue eyes bulging in the process.

"Goldwing! Throw in another 'yip!'" the WaterClan warrior called. "We gotta get away!"

Archie tried desperately to avoid the raging tornado while Goldwing controlled the reigns as fast as he could. The tornado was right on top of the three cats, however, and they were unable to place themselves away from the danger.

As the whirlwind bore down on them, Ashfeather was suddenly blown off of the saddle. Seeing this, Silverheart leapt up, grabbed onto his scruff with her jaws, and held onto him tight. As her brother wailed, Goldwing leapt out of the driver's seat and onto the saddle. At once, he created an air bubble around them and Archie, just as they were sucked into the middle of the tornado. Ashfeather and Silverheart fell back into the saddle while Goldwing struggled to keep out of the tornado.

_StarClan help us!_

Unfortunately, he failed as one of Archie's claws began to stick out of the protective air bubble. The Avatar Cat's barrier collapsed, and they were engulfed in the tornado, which threw them out in all different directions.

Goldwing saw Archie being ejected deep into the swamp, knocking down much in his path as witnessed by dust and dirt that erupted over the swamp canopy. But he couldn't get to him right now as he, Silverheart, and Ashfeather dropped from the sky into the swamp. It was dark in here, even though it was still daytime. The swamp canopy screened out most of the sunlight.

A second later, while his friends fell into the swampy water, Goldwing used his AirBending to soften his fall. Silverheart rose out of the water and shook the swampy bits out of her head fur while Ashfeather got up, rubbing his head and making wounded sounds. The three cats got up and looked about them.

Goldwing just remembered something. "Wait. Where the hell are Archie and Tobias?"

Seeing a nearby mangrove tree, the golden tom swam to the tree, sunk his claws gently into the bark, and climbed to the top. He looked around the swamp, but he couldn't see anything that would lead them to the other animals.

"Archie! Tobias!" Goldwing yowled, but he knew it was hopeless.

Giving a sigh, he leaped down the branches to search some more. He heard a snap and saw an alligator catch a deer and drag it into the water, preparing to eat it. Below him, Silverheart and Ashfeather swam to the roots and started to travel by leaping onto one root after the other.

Suddenly, Goldwing heard Silverheart shout, "Ashfeather! You got a leech!"

"Where?" Ashfeather squealed, twisting around to look.

"It's on your pelt, dumbass," Silverheart retorted coolly, rolling her dark blue eyes.

Goldwing looked over to see a leech sticking onto Ashfeather's pelt, sucking up all the blood it could drink. The dark gray tabby warrior let out a howl of rage and whirled around to grasp the leech in his jaws. Then he slammed it down to the root and killed it by slicing it with his claws.

Ashfeather hissed angrily, "Why do things always stick to me?"

Without Ashfeather seeing him, Goldwing laughed a little. This was just like at MudClan, where pygmy octopi clung onto a cat's pelt to make them look like they were sick. Silverheart growled sensitively before Goldwing leapt down to join his WaterClan companions.

"Did you find them?" she asked him softly.

"No," Goldwing murmured, the sad feeling coming back. Then another realization made these words come out of his mouth: "And the weird thing is that...the tornado disappeared."

Silverheart and Ashfeather gave him looks of concern, Ashfeather's angry temper fading away. Goldwing didn't know where to begin searching, but they couldn't stand around until a predator came around. So the three warriors went through the swamp while leaping from root to root.

**...**

Archie strained to free himself, but the vines were holding him powerless. After he and Tobias were separated from the cats, he and Tobias were flung away, and they slammed right into a knot of vines. When they landed, the vines wrapped themselves around the Asian Lung Dragon.

Tobias flew to him from out of nowhere, cawed loudly, and began to snip his beak through vine after vine. Finally, Archie's large weight was too much for the remaining vines to hold on to, and they fell into the muddy water below. Archie stood up and shook as much water off of his white fur as he could, then he took off again.

But then, to his dismay, he flew right into another net of vines and was once again trapped. The Asian Lung roared in frustration once again, as Tobias flew to him and began the snipping route once more.

**...**

"Let's speed this up!"

To Goldwing's dismay, Ashfeather unsheathed his claws and swiped at the vines hanging in front of them. The Avatar Cat knew that the dark gray tom hated the swamp, but taking his anger out on nature didn't help at all. He even drove away a starving mother raccoon so that they could get after its fresh-kill.

So he mewed with dread, "Hey, Ashfeather?" His friend glared at him, but he went on, "Do you think it'll kill you if you were nicer to nature?"

"Goldwing," Ashfeather sighed before turning back to slash at the vines, "these are just damn plants. I suspect you want me to say 'Please' or 'Thank you' when I slash my claws at them?"

"I think Goldwing's right," Silverheart told him with concern. "I think there's something in the mangrove swamp that makes it feel...alive."

Ashfeather sighed again and hacked at the vines while gesturing at his sister with his tail. "Look, I'm sure there are many things in this swamp that are alive. If we don't wanna get eaten, then we look for Archie and Tobias and get the hell outta here."

At that, he continued to hack through the vines while Goldwing and Silverheart gave him a worried look. But little did the Clan warriors know that someone was looking at the cats through the vines some distance away.

**...**

Archie looked down as he walked and realized that he was making footprints in the swamp floor. Meanwhile, Tobias was just sitting atop his saddle as the dragon trudged on. Soon, they stopped to see a large moss-covered fallen tree in their way. Archie let out a growl of frustration because he was too tired to fly, and there was a cut on his leg.

So the Asian Lung collapsed to the swamp floor in a heap, refusing to move farther while Tobias picked up the dragon whistle in the saddle and breathed into it, making a whistling sound. Archie flinched and tried to cover his ears, but it wasn't successful. The large dragon sighed with agony, but Tobias breathed into it again.

Feeling tired and upset now, Archie raised his whip-like tail and slapped Tobias' rear hard like a fly-swatter. The red-tailed hawk squawked with pain and fell backwards, knocked silly.

**...**

Meanwhile, the three warrior cats climbed up a large fallen tree, the water beneath them. It was quite hard to tell, but it looked like night had fallen. But that meant the swamp had become a scary place to sleep at when night would fall. Goldwing was afraid a dangerous predator would attack them during the night...and that was because they would be concealed in the shadows.

"Archie! Tobias! Where are you?" Silverheart yowled, but no one answered...except Ashfeather, of course.

Her dark gray littermate faced her as he leapt onto another root without a problem. "Hey, I don't think they'll hear us. I believe we won't see them right away. Let's make camp for tonight."

At that, he padded up to a sandy area underneath the roots and started making a nest. But as soon as he did, he was surrounded by a lot of mosquitoes which he flailed at with his front paws and walrus-tusk machete. They flew away as a huge bubble of swamp gas burped from the muddy water beneath them. The gas rose up to them and Goldwing felt himself throw up a little inside.

_Even though I like nature, that's _disgusting_!_

Silverheart spun around toward it and squealed with fear, "What the hell was that?"

"It's nothing...just a little swamp gas." But when the gas bubbled in a paranormal way, he added weakly, "Nope, that's not paranormal!"

All three cats felt a stench surround them and they buried their muzzles into each other's fur to block out the stench. It smelled as if there were skunks spraying other predators in the swamp and Goldwing turned away from his friends quickly to let his breath out. The others were doing the same and they were fixing to vomit also.

But as soon as that was done, their disgust was interrupted by a frightening scream. They stopped in mid vomit and grabbed each other with bugged-out eyes. The three cats looked up to the trees and saw a white bird with a huge mouth sitting on a tree branch above them; this was the starting place of the scream. It screeched loudly once more and flew off into the dark.

The Clan warriors stared after it until Ashfeather broke a silence. "So...let's go make that fire."

He unsheathed his claws once again, ran over to some nearby tree or vine roots, and started to slice at them with his claws. Goldwing and Silverheart padded up to behind him with worry in their minds; Goldwing was terrified that something would attack Ashfeather for attacking the swamp.

"Hey Ashfeather," the golden Avatar Cat meowed. "I think the longer we're here, the more I think you shouldn't be doing this."

"Of course not, smartass. I asked the swamp!" Ashfeather retorted sarcastically. "The swamp told me it was okay. Right, swamp?" he asked a nearby tree root. Then he grabbed the root and shook it, adding in a high voice, "'Sure thing! No problem, Ashfeather! Help yourself!'"

But when he said this, he quickly sliced the root with his claws and picked up the detached tuber in his jaws. Goldwing was really irked at that while Silverheart looked disturbed at this behavior.

_StarClan help this cat see sense._

**...**

Sometime later, the three cats managed to find some shelter on a ledge created by the root system of a large mangrove tree. They already built their camp on it and were sitting around a small fire. It was sometime later that night, but they were far from relaxed; instead, they were scared. They were not in their own element now.

Silverheart was the one who broke the silence as she looked up from the frog she was eating. "Hey, is it me, or is there something watching us?"

"Aw please, Silverheart. There's nothing out here but the three of us," Ashfeather retorted. This retort came out when mosquitoes began buzzing around his head, but the others weren't getting swarmed by mosquitoes.

He stared swatting at the mosquitoes with his claws and yet missed his target. Suddenly, to their shock, one mosquito turned into a ball of glowing white light. They shielded their eyes from the light and heard some rustling from the bushes behind them. When they turned around, many glowing yellow eyes looked down at them. The three warriors turned their heads to look at the sinister eyes. They looked like eyes of demons.

"They probably live here too," Goldwing squeaked as the two WaterClan cats huddled together with fright. Then, as soon as they appeared, the glowing yellow eyes disappeared.

Ashfeather nodded timidly. "Yeah. They live here too."

**...**

It was still night, and Archie and Tobias decided that it was enough travelling for the day, so they decided to settle down for sleep. Archie was lying down on the lowest branch of a huge tree while Tobias was perched on top of him. Tobias would normally catch some mice or rabbits as prey, but he was very unsure about what was safe or risky to eat in the swamp. In the end, he had no choice but to eat bugs, a poor surrogate of his normal prey.

All of a sudden, the sounds of the swamp were all around them, and Tobias fluttered around on Archie's saddle. The red-tailed hawk was up for most of the night, listening and frightened at the disharmony.

Archie seemed to notice his friend's distress, for he opened one eye, lifted his head, and roared as loud as he could. When the beings in the swamp heard the dragon's loud roar, they fell silent. Tobias felt better now, so he tucked his head under his wing on the saddle and tried his hardest to sleep.

**...**

The campfire was slowly dying until a tiny burning lump of ashes remained; plus, it was nearly moonhigh. Since Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather couldn't hunt because of the swamp, they decided to sleep earlier than usual.

Goldwing didn't know this yet, but the stalker he was unaware of earlier was a group of vines that snaked their way toward the three cats. The vines were slowly crawling across the swampy toward their new target: Ashfeather, whose tail was sticking out. Slowly, they coiled themselves around the dark gray tabby tom like a python, ready for the constriction.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing made sure his eyes were adjusted well to the dark before he opened them wider. But what he saw next made him yelp with horror: he saw a vine wrapped tightly around his body; the two WaterClan warriors were wrapped in them also. He felt the green coils squeeze him tighter, so he let out a yowl of alarm to wake the others up.

_Silverheart was right! Something IS wrong with this swamp!_

Silverheart and Ashfeather woke up to find out who was yowling, but they saw the coils tighten quickly. Then all three of them ended up screaming as the vines simultaneously yanked them all out off of their sleeping spots and away from each other. Goldwing watched Ashfeather plant his machete (while it was in his teeth) in the ground as he was dragged away, halting his movement. He and Silverheart were dragged off into the shadowy fog while the dark gray warrior got up and started raking the vines with his claws. Then he swiftly freed himself and sprinted back down the tree root, pursued by more vines.

Meanwhile, Goldwing watched as Silverheart kept struggling to free herself from the dark vines. Using her Ice Claws attack, the silver she-cat broke through her bonds and raced off into the mist.

Finally, the Avatar Cat himself escaped by creating a large air bubble around him and expanding it. His bonds loosened quickly, he broke the bubble apart, and leapt away into the trees, closely pursued by more vines. He managed to flee from a vine that pulled him to the ground, using his AirBending to propel himself far away.

Not wanting to see the plant recover, Goldwing gave a deep breath and leaped away through the trees. He managed to slow to a halt before a large and fearsome wild boar, which was rooting through the undergrowth for food. He soon found himself alone in the swamp when the wild pig trotted off.

Now he looked around the swamp for his friends, but they were nowhere in sight. He was truly alone now.

"Silverheart? Ashfeather?"

**...**

Meanwhile, the next day, two cats living in the swamp were sniffing the air. They were wearing mud and leaves on their pelts, making them look like the filthiest cats on Earth. One cat was a tall skinny black tom with white stripes on his back and legs, making him look a little bit like a skunk, while the other was a short fat brown tabby tom. Plus, their pelts were quite smelly due to living in the swamp ever since their ancestors arrived.

Suddenly, they noticed something on the ground and padded over to inspect it. They looked closer to see that it looked like a footprint with five toes on each foot; there was water settling in there.

While the fat tabby tom poked at the footprint with his paw, the black tom meowed in a Cajun voice, "Hey, Bloat. What the ding-dong is that thing? Is that a big critter?"

"Don't know what it is, Skunk," Bloat replied, poking at the footprint with his paw. "But you're darn tootin' it's a critter! And look! It's got some six toes! And they're big'uns too!"

"Yeah," Skunk began, turning to lick himself. "That there leaves a nice wide trail to foller."

Bloat nodded and meowed, "And you know what's at the end of that there trail?"

Skunk quickly shook his head with a denial since he wasn't the smartest of all cats. Bloat flicked his tail over to his tribemate and whispered into his ear:

"Suppertime!"

**...**

Archie swam lazily in the marsh water while Tobias rested on top of his saddle. His bright green eyes were darting from side to side as he cawed with nervousness. A bluebird was flying among the branches above him. It flew off, and Tobias felt the natural instincts to hunt well up inside him. So he spread out his wings, lifted off, and flew off after it.

The red-tailed hawk landed on a nearby tree root, still trying to trap the bluebird. He went from one root to another root, hoping to eat right now. He managed to capture the bluebird on the last root, but he released it when the root turns out to be the back of an alligator. Tobias quickly flew into the air as the alligator roared and snapped its mighty jaws at the young hawk. The large dark gray reptile chased after Tobias as he flew back to Archie.

When they reached Archie, the dragon's mouth opened to receive the pursuing alligator, and it fell into the trap. Archie spat it back out while Tobias and the alligator glared at each other for a moment. Then, hissing, the reptile swam off into the deeper murky water.

Tobias gave a thankful caw to Archie, who shook his mighty head a little and groaned. Together, these two animals could survive in the swamp.

**...**

**[Katara: (Sadly with a tear in her eye) This scene always makes me cry.]**

**[Aang: (Wiping the tear away) Don't worry, Katara. It'll be over soon.]**

Silverheart swam carefully in the swamp water, promising that after she and her friends left, she would groom her pelt for a quarter-moon. She looked around her to see that the trees above her had white flowers blooming because of newleaf coming.

"Goldwing! Ashfeather!" she called.

But no one answered.

Silverheart knew there wasn't going to be much to help, but it was better to try and search than to give up immediately. Plus, she knew they couldn't find Goldwing a new mentor until they got back together and got out of the mangrove swamp.

But suddenly, a familiar scent, a scent with ice and the sea, filled her nose after she left her home in WaterClan. Silverheart lifted her muzzle to the air and opened her jaws to take in the scent. _This is definitely WaterClan scent. But why the hell would a WaterClan cat be living here in this swamp?_

Then she saw it: in front of her, with its back turned, was a cat sitting there on a patch of grass and watching fish swim by. This cat looked a bit like Silverheart except that this cat had dark silver tabby stripes all over its body and all of its paws were white; Silverheart's hind paws were still silver.

"Excuse me," Silverheart called to the cat. "Is it okay if you help me with something?"

But as she padded forward, she now recognized the cat: this was her mother, Seamist, who had been killed in a raid against WaterClan by FireClan when she was a kit. "M...Mother?"

When the cat nodded, Silverheart squealed with joy and ran to her, yelping, "Mother! It IS you!" Her eyes streaming tears of joy, she kept leaping forwards until she reached the figure and placed a white paw on her shoulder. "I can't believe it's you, Mother! I missed you so much!"

But something wasn't right; instead of feeling her mother's soft silver tabby pelt, she felt wood. Silverheart pulled back and saw with sadness that this wasn't her mother; it was just a large tree stump. The swamp must have tricked her and made her believe it was her mother who had risen from the dead.

_So she's still dead..._

Sorrowful tears were falling from her eyes, down her face, and onto the soft cool grass under her paws. She couldn't believe she fell for an illusion that tricked her into believing in her mother coming alive. Letting out a small whimper of woe, she bowed her head and started to cry.

**...**

Ashfeather, meanwhile, leapt from tree to tree as he searched for his pack. He didn't stop to eat or to drink, for the water tasted nasty and the prey was too weird and too wary. But he wasn't going to let the swamp or the vines stop him in his tracks, and that was why he kept slashing the vines out of his way.

"Goldwing!" the dark gray tabby warrior called as he raked his claws against the vines, which twirled around his paw. With a growl, he yanked it back, cursing, "You stupid swamp! You shit-filled hellhole!" Then he yowled, "Silverheart? Where are you guys?"

Another vine wrapped around his tail and he yanked_ that_ back, hissing, "So you think you can outfox me, eh, vines?"

He lashed out with his claws, but he missed. Then Ashfeather got himself caught up in some vines and fell flat on his face in the dark smelly mud. Letting a growl escape from his throat, he glared up at where the vines waved back and forth above him. _Those stupid vines better watch out! _he thought savagely.

Suddenly, a bright light made him get up and look to see where the light was coming from. The sun wasn't able to reach into the swamp, so he dismissed the sun from his mind as the light. But he looked up to see a ghostly outline of a cat hovering some distance away from him. Ashfeather couldn't believe his eyes; floating in a shaft of light was the spirit form of the young beautiful white she-cat, Moonfeather.

"H-Hello...Moonfeather..." he rasped as he padded toward her. But he lashed his tail from side to side as he looked away from her. "Don't kid yourself, Ashfeather. This is just a trick...it's swamp gas..." He turned around, his back to the ghost. "I...I hit my head from running last night, that's all! I'm going to get mouse-brained!"

Then the WaterClan warrior turned back around, though he was still startled. He padded over to her and flinched as he saw sadness and discontent in her bright blue eyes while she gazed at him.

Then she meowed, as if her voice was far away and echoing "Ashfeather...you didn't save me..."

Ashfeather quickly shook his head and suddenly, the shaft of light was empty. He turned around to pad away and sensed that Moonfeather was still behind him. The dark gray tabby tom yowled with surprise and fell backwards into the dirty water. He looked around once more, and the white warrior was gone.

_That was weird. _He stood up, shook the dirty water out of his pelt, and padded off with a frown on his face. He tried to think about what he just saw, but he got even more stumped.

**...**

"Silverheart? Ashfeather? Archie? Tobias?"

Goldwing leapt from branch to branch in the trees, careful not to spoil any more of the swamp like Ashfeather did to the vines. He thought the vines were punishing them for what Ashfeather did to them, but he banished the thought from his mind. There was no way he could condemn his friend like that, and he had no purpose of repeating it when the dark gray tom yelled at him for hiding his father's map.

Suddenly, ahead of him, there were two figures ahead. They looked like they were playing.

Goldwing squinted and meowed, "Hello?"

The first smaller figure, which looked like a black cat three moons younger than him, looked around at him while the second figure, a horse with wings, neighed nervously as it looked at him with brown eyes. Goldwing just noticed he couldn't see the she-cat's eyes; this was because he was too far away to see her eyes.

"Who...who are you?" Goldwing asked them.

The black she-cat tossed her head back to shake up her head fur as she giggled. Immediately, the horse lowered itself to the ground to let its owner climb on board, and then they took off into the air. Strongly reminded of himself and Archie, Goldwing started sliding down the slimy slope and after them.

"Wait! I just wanna talk to you!" he called after them

The golden Avatar Cat chased the she-cat through the swamp through several tries through the trees. Goldwing began to get confused because the black she-cat seemed to be at many places at once, able to move at lightning speed, or both. No matter how many times he tried to keep up with her, Goldwing couldn't reach her.

_But I gotta try!_

**...**

Tobias looked up at a chicken clucking as it wandered around the swamp while an opossum was hanging from a tree branch. Then he looked back down to Archie as the dragon continued to swim down one of the swamp's many rivers.

In front of Archie, the mist cleared up to reveal three river boats. The point boat was manned by a skinny black tomcat and a fat brown tabby tom. The two parties surveyed each other for a few tense moments; feeling scared, Tobias cawed from on top of Archie. Sitting in the 'driver's seat', it looked like Tobias was Archie's master. The tabby cat licked his tongue over his thick lower lip while the black cat kneaded his paws on the boat.

The black cat meowed, "Look at that, Bloat! Look at the little feathery fella ridin' that giant white thing!"

"That's what they call a 'hawker,'" the brown tabby insisted. "I saw one of them at a travelin' show once. They says they smart."

"Well, I'll be! Bet ya he tastes like chicken!" the black cat purred, his fur shaking so that the water flew off his white patches.

The tabby tom gave him a weird look. "Skunk...you think _everything_ tastes like chicken."

Archie and Tobias exchanged a strange look with one another before looking back at the cats, the black cat kinking his tail at them. They watched as he leaned forward and began talking to them.

"C'mon now, fellers. Just come a little closer. Nice and easy. There's nothin' to worry about. We's just fixin' to eat ya, ya'll hear?"

Tobias let out a screech of terror while Archie roared angrily, turned around, and bounded away through the swamp. They fled because they could understand the cats really well; well...Archie could. The waves from Archie's wake buffeted them like a strong wind during a hurricane.

"Dang it, Skunk! What the hell did ya say that fer?" Bloat snarled, clouting his friend on the head with his paw.

Skunk protested, "Well, we are! Ain't we?"

Bloat sighed. "Yeah! But you didn't have to go and tell'em that! That was purdy stupid of ya to tell'em that!"

"Well, how would _I_ know they'd understand?" the black cat asked with confusion.

Bloat let out an exasperated sigh, but he stopped arguing. "Never mind all that! Come on!"

So Skunk sat up on his haunches and began making quick paddling movements with his front paws. Within a few seconds, the boat sped off with Skunk WaterBending to boost the canoe forwards. The other boats followed them, a WaterBender cat in each of those as well.

As Archie continued darting over the river, his feet splashed at the surface as he went. The Asian Lung Dragon turned to see the swamp boats following them close behind. Wanting to get away, he picked up some more speed and began dodging this way and that.

**...**

Goldwing leaped through the air toward the black she-cat, feeling tired since he didn't have a bite to eat all day. He had been searching for his friends, and now he was chasing the she-cat and her Pegasus horse for an odd reason. That extra exercising was making him feel very tired indeed.

"Wait! Who are you?" Goldwing called out wearily.

But the she-cat didn't answer; instead, she swiftly turned to laugh at him before leaping away through the trees. Sighing with fatigue, but not wanting to fail, Goldwing steadied himself before leaping away after her from one branch to the other. He felt that the puzzling power for illusions in the swamp was caused by this young she-cat.

Seeing her below him on a stone, Goldwing leaped down at her, charging quickly towards her. She looked up at him, but it wasn't her; it was Silverheart, who looked up at him with surprise in her dark blue eyes. Goldwing realized too late that it was the young silver warrior. He leaped on top of her and knocked her off the stone. She let out a yowl of shock as they both went down.

As they rolled down the stone, they could see Ashfeather padding along, unsheathing his claws as he heard something arrive. The other two cats rolled down toward him and knocked him down as well. The young Clan cats rolled around until they landed in a heap at the bottom of another tree root.

Ashfeather was the first cat to get up, but he hissed as he got up, "Dammit, you two! I've been hoping to find you! Now what do you think you're doing?"

"Well, _I _was the one searching for _you! _I wasn't bullshitting around!" Silverheart snarled back at him, displeased at her brother's attitude. She tried to stand on her paws, but she ended up slipping into the mud once again.

"Yeah," Goldwing put in as he struggled to get to his paws, using AirBending to pick himself up. "I was trying to find a she-cat that passed through here."

Silverheart looked over at him, confused. "What she-cat?"

Goldwing padded to her and picked her up by the scruff before letting her slip out of his mouth. As she shook herself to get the mud out of her fur, he answered, "I'm not sure. I heard some she-cat laughing, and I did see her with a flying horse."

"Well, I guess there's a great banquet for Twoleg gods, and _we_ didn't get invited!" Ashfeather spat sarcastically.

All three cats stared at each other for a few quiet moments until Silverheart broke the silence.

"I...I thought I saw our mother. Her name was Seamist," the silver she-cat murmured to the toms, looking down as a tear formed in each dark blue eye.

Ashfeather padded to his younger littermate and licked her face in a soothing way as he held her close to his side. "It's all right, Silverheart. Look, we were just distressed and starving, and our minds were playing mind tricks on us. That's why we all saw those things out here."

Silverheart stepped away from him while giving her brother a look. "Didn't _you_ see something?"

"I...I saw Moonfeather," the dark gray tabby muttered, looking away. "But that _still_ doesn't prove that there's something mystic here; you know how I feel about this stuff." He looked around to meow, "I think about Mother all the time too, so you probably saw her ghost in a vision."

But far from understanding, Goldwing felt confused about something that his friend just said. Ashfeather and Silverheart had seen cats they knew and thought of all the time. But Goldwing didn't know anything about the black she-cat that passed by. The only other black cat he knew was Frostfire, the FireClan deputy, but this new cat was younger.

"What about me?" he spoke up, making them look at him. "I don't know that black she-cat. And our visions led us all to here." After he meowed this, he leaped onto a higher tree root and began scanning the area as if he was looking for something.

"So here is the middle of the swamp?" Silverheart spoke up, gesturing her tail to the area around them.

Goldwing nodded. "Yeah."

He looked up and saw that he and his friends were under the biggest tree they saw in their lives. The AirClan warrior saw that there were more than a few tree trunks extending from the large canopy of the big tree, connecting them together. It was like one large organism housing all the other animals or plants.

He turned to the other cats and meowed, "This is the heart of this mangrove swamp. I _knew_ there was something calling us here!" he added, smiling at them.

But this didn't seem to impress Ashfeather. He spat angrily, "Goldwing, for StarClan's sake, it's just a tree! It _can't_ call anyone, and it _doesn't_ have jaws! For the last time now, there is _nothing_ after us, and there's _nothing_ paranormal happening here!"

Suddenly, at that moment, a huge bear-sized swamp monster that was made of vines burst from the water behind the log. The three young warriors backed away from the big creature as they pressed their fur each other and screeched their heads off. They were trapped.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Silverheart felt her friends' pelts press against hers as the three cats cowered in front of the giant vine monster rising from the swamp water. The silver she-cat looked up to see its face not like a bear; rather, it had a simple wooden carved mask on its face. But there was no time to think of that because the monster took a swipe at Goldwing, who dodged and leapt up a nearby tree.

The monster seized Ashfeather as he fled and tossed him around like a dog strangling its prey. Goldwing turned around and knocked the dark gray cat out of the monster's grip with a blast of air. Ashfeather fell into the water with a shriek, and the monster knocked the Avatar Cat way back with a sweep of its arm.

But while Ashfeather was cutting its vines with his machete, Silverheart saw the vines start rising slowly out of the water. Now the vines were attaching itself to the monster, and it reassembled the right arm that Goldwing tore off with his blast of air when he released Ashfeather. Then the monster swung its arm around and grabbed Ashfeather again.

Silverheart glared at the monster in fury. _No one messes with him except me!_

Then she skated across the water in an elegant curve and fired a jet of water from her mouth through the creature's left shoulder. The creature dropped her brother, a large hole in its left shoulder. Silverheart faced off against the creature as it filled the hole with more vines. This made Silverheart look on in distress; his swamp monster was a more challenging enemy than she thought.

Silverheart leapt around the monster as it swung its arm at her a few times and missed. Then she sprayed some water at it with her jaws and concentrated, building a large wave and washing the creature backwards. Ashfeather yowled some more, since he was in the monster's clutches again. Concentrating, Silverheart parted the water between her and the monster until there was marshy ground between them. She ran down the marshy earth in front of her, but the creature knocked her backward with vines that grew out from its body.

When she watched Goldwing get back into the fight, Silverheart leapt around the other way in time, yowling as she went. Goldwing turned back just in time to get pushed back by another vine limb. To their dismay, the monster placed Ashfeather in its mouth and began to suck him in. The dark gray tabby warrior struggled, but he was slowly drawn in.

**...**

Archie continued running through the swamp, still pursued by the WaterBender boats. Behind him were Bloat and Skunk, who were still using their WaterBending moves. Suddenly, Archie turned to see Skunk get hit in the face by something and was quite confused for a moment.

He looked up to see Tobias, who was on his saddle and looking for things to throw at their pursuers. Now Archie could see a blue blanket whap one of the other swamp cats behind him in the face.

As the other cat struggled to get it off, Bloat stopped for just a short while, looking confused. "Now what the hell does a hawker wanna blanket fer?"

But when he finished, the other boat with the blinded cat upturned, and that cat managed to crawl on top in time. Archie gave a growl before going back to running over the swamp surface. The Asian Lung Dragon bent low and ran under a mangrove tree root or fallen tree blocking his path. Archie managed to make it, but he accidentally knocked Tobias off his back.

He turned to see Bloat, who was behind him and looking ready to catch the hawk with an open sack. Tobias flew right into it and Bloat closed the sack, tied it up, and dropped it beside him. The chase continued since Archie had to get away for now before rescuing his friend.

**...**

The monster continued flailing about, Ashfeather still struggling in the monster's chest. Warily, Goldwing approached swiftly across the water, his Air Paws riding him forward. He rode the Air Paws up the monster's trunk and back as it swung at him and missed. Then he landed on its head and began to make a whirlwind around the swamp monster. The whirlwind twisted the vines so hard that it trapped the monster into a huge coil.

Silverheart began making a few WaterBending motions and blew a frosty breath out that froze the mist in front of her. Her breath froze the vines around Ashfeather, who stopped struggling. She raised a column of water behind her that pushed the two WaterClan cats through the chest of the monster and into the water behind. The monster repaired the hole in its chest and began to advance on the siblings.

Seeing his friends in peril, Goldwing leaped through the air and landed on the monster's back. The golden cat jumped back to the ground, and the monster blasted him out of the area again. Goldwing went flying through the air and landed in the water, growling as he felt a twig tear at his ear.

Silverheart turned back to the monster, a look of resolve on her face. Then she began to quickly fire loops of water at the monster as it approached. The loops got larger the farther they got from the young she-cat. As they struck the monster, a sound like claws slicing into fur was heard. As the water sliced the vines apart, Silverheart gasped in surprise while Goldwing, his ear bleeding, looked to see.

There seemed to be a cat inside the monster; it smelt like vines. Silverheart continued to fire at the vines, and the monster began to fall apart, revealing a few more sights of the cat inside.

"Look!" Ashfeather yowled. "There's a cat in there! He's Bending the vines!"

Goldwing watched Silverheart nod and twirl around in a Bending attack and sliced off head with her famous Ice Claws. But as the head and vines fell, a few more vines shot out and grabbed onto Silverheart's leg. Deciding to end it, Goldwing flew in and, while Ashfeather watched, blew the vines away with a powerful blast of air.

When Silverheart reunited with her friends, Goldwing could now see the cat more closely. The cat was a large and fat dark brown tabby-&-cream tom with deep green eyes and a scent of vines and insects about him.

But the tom had no time for greetings, for Goldwing, angry about the attack, stepped forward and snarled, "You! Why the hell did you call me here for, you bastard? So you could kill us?"

"Hold on there, young 'uns!" the loner meowed as he dropped the vines. "I ain't the one who called ya!"

Feeling confused and letting the anger ebb away, Goldwing mewed, "Well, I heard something call out to me while flew over this swamp. It was telling me to land here. So I thought you called me here."

"He's the Avatar Cat," Ashfeather added, standing beside his friend. "A lot of shit like this happens to us all the time."

The dark brown loner gaped at him with surprise. "You're the Avatar Cat?" When Goldwing nodded, he meowed, "Follow me, young'un."

The three cats looked at one another in surprise as they sheathed their claws and let their fur relax. They were sure that this would be a trap, but this cat seemed very honest enough to be a normal cat, not a killer. They had a feeling that he was the one who was spying on them...if he didn't have yellow eyes.

So, giving each other a nod, they followed the dark brown loner as they swam through the murky water and deeper into the mangrove swamp.

**...**

As the three cats and the dark brown loner climbed over huge wide tree roots, Silverheart puffed, "So...who are...you, then?"

The loner gently took a vine into his mouth and tossed it away lightly as he purred, "Name's Cajun. And I guard the swamp from any critters that want to damage it." He let Goldwing and Silverheart pass, and then to Ashfeather as he passed, he mewed, "Like this guy with his long claws."

Goldwing remembered looking at those claws while the dark gray tabby showed them. They were getting to be as long as a snake's fangs.

Ashfeather turned to his friends in a smug way as he purred, "See that? This is _very_ practical! There's not a monster here!" He sheathed his claws and followed his friends through the vines, adding, "It's just a regular cat defending his land! There's nothing paranormal here after all!"

"Oh, the swamp _is_ one paranormal place, all right," Cajun purred as he leapt over another root with ease. As they leaped onto a raised lump on another root, he purred, "When I was your age, I reached insight right here under the banyan grove tree. I heard it callin' me, just like you did."

He sat down and began to hum, but Ashfeather broke in, "Yeah...because it was chatty, right?"

Cajun purred before going on, "You see, this whole mangrove swamp is in fact a big ol' tree spread out over miles. The branches from that tree spread and sink and take root. And then they spread out some more; it's one big living life form, just like the entire world."

"Okay. I get how the tree is one big thing, but...what do you really mean by 'the entire world?'" Goldwing became confused about that.

"You think you're any different from me?" Cajun purred. "Or your friends? Or this here tree? Why, if you stand still and listen hard enough, you can hear every creature livin' together. And you can feel everything growin' together. We're all livin' as one, even if most critters don't act like that. Every cat has the same roots, and we're all just branches of the same tree."

Goldwing slowly began to understand. He recalled hearing stories that all Clan cats were once kittypets or rogues fighting each other to stay alive before the Clans came to be. Then, after the four ancient Clans became extinct, the four new Clans relearned the Warrior Code and became four again. But he understood that they were all connected though they were separate Clans.

_This counts for this swamp too._

"But what do our visions mean?" Silverheart's voice cut through his thoughts like a claw. He had forgotten about that.

Cajun looked around at her and smiled. "Well, if you travel around in this here swamp, you'll see visions of cats you've lost in the past or really loved...cats that we think have gone on. But this place tells us that they're really not gone. We're still connected to 'em either in dreams from StarClan or in our memories. Time is a delusion, and so is death."

Goldwing saw Silverheart and Ashfeather exchange sad looks with one another. They had both lost their mother when they were kits, so since they were the oldest kits, they had to become apprentices instantly. And he knew Ashfeather loved Moonfeather so much that he had blamed himself for her death.

But there was one thing that confused him: the black she-cat he saw earlier, the one with the flying Pegasus.

"Excuse me," he interrupted the loner politely, "but I had a vision of a cat I never met in my life. What does that mean?"

"You're the Avatar Cat," Cajun meowed, smiling at him. "You tell me."

So Goldwing wrapped his tail around his front paws and began to think this over. He knew that Silverheart and Ashfeather met someone they knew in the past: their mother and Moonfeather. But that black cat must be someone that he had yet to meet.

_So time is a delusion... _he thought to himself. And then he had the answer.

"It's a cat I'll meet in the future?" Goldwing guessed out loud, asking Cajun.

Cajun nodded.

But before anyone could say anything else, Ashfeather stood up to speak. "Sorry to interrupt this little charades game, but we still have to find Archie and Tobias."

Goldwing told him, "I know where to find them now."

Letting out a sigh of relaxation, he padded to the giant tree trunk and rose up onto his hind legs. With his front paws, he felt the bark of the very large tree, feeling all energy within the swamp rush into his pads. As he closed his eyes and began to concentrate, he began to meow to himself, _Everything is connected._

The white arrow stripe on one of Goldwing's paws began to glow bright white. The bright white energy suddenly surged from his claws and into the tree root. The energy followed a zigzag path down the tree root and then through the swamp. The Avatar Cat's head was suddenly overlaid on vines rushing by in the background.

The vision flashed white, and he could see a fish eye view of Archie getting caught by a pack of swamp cats. His dragon roared and struggled, but he was clearly on his way to being subdued. With panic, he quickly pulled himself out of his vision as fast as a flash of silver in a stream.

"Guys, let's go!" he told his friends. "He's been caught by swamp cats! We have to save him!"

**...**

As Goldwing leapt from one mangrove branch to another, he looked down below to see the pack of swamp cats dragging Archie behind them with their boats. They seemed to WaterBend the boats in the water to make them go forth. Down below, he could see a fat brown tabby cat lazily flicking his tail around a squawking bag as he sung:

"_Set my lines by the riverbed._

_Caught ten fish and I killed 'em dead._

_Cut 'em and gut 'em and I toss them heads_

_In the water to keep them big gators fed!"_

Suddenly, Goldwing leapt down toward the swamp cats and summoned a stream of water from behind them. Then he used the jet of water to erupt beyond the boats and destroy the one farther one that did not contain the brown tabby or his comrade, a black cat with a white stripe on his back. When that was done, he leaped away and settled himself on top of another tree branch.

Immediately, he let out a battle screech before unleashing a blast of air that knocked the fat tabby tom off the boat. He dropped the bag containing Tobias as he flew off; with that done, the red-tailed hawk got out and flew away.

"_Mrrow!_ Dammit! We're under attack!" the skinny black tom wailed.

Immediately, the black tom whipped up a wall of water with his tail and flung it at the Avatar Cat. Goldwing and Silverheart, who joined him on top of the tree branch, Bended it away from them. But Goldwing looked sideways to see Silverheart look amazed as she Bended the water back and forth and keeping the wave away from them.

"Hey!" she called to the swamp cats. "You guys are WaterBenders, too?"

The black cat looked up at her and smiled. "So yer a WaterBender, too? That means...we're yer kin!"

The silvery gray WaterClan she-cat cringed, looking alarmed and appalled at that revelation. Goldwing knew that a beautiful she-cat like her could never be related to strange dirty cats like the swamp cats. He wanted to yowl at the black tom to keep his weird comments to himself, but he didn't want to start a fight. On the other paw, they DID try to capture Archie.

Suddenly, the water wall collapsed as Silverheart stepped back to join her friend on the branch. Leaping down from another tree branch in front of the two warriors were Cajun and Ashfeather. But then, the fat tabby and the skinny black cat looked up at them and seemed to identify Cajun straight away.

"Howdy, Cajun!" the skinny black cat called, smiling widely. "How've ya been?"

"Oh, the usual, Skunk and Bloat," the dark brown tabby tom purred in reply, his green eyes very friendly. "I've scared other critters away, swung some vines around...you know the basics."

Now it seemed to the three young Clan warriors that Cajun seemed to be the chieftain of these swamp cats. At first, they seemed to distrust him a little, but Cajun hadn't led them into any trap; he was just trying to protect the swamp. And to Goldwing, the swamp was no longer a terrifying place...even though he wanted to get out.

So when the swamp cats began to run off in unison, Goldwing and his pack followed them by leaping through the trees, with Archie and Tobias following them.

**...**

The cats were now in a small camp with queens feeding their kits and elders exchanging gossip of the swamp around. In the center of the camp was a small campfire, and a few alligators were lying out in front of it like pet dogs. Goldwing and his friends were invited to share some fresh-kill with them before they went away, so they decided to stay for one more night.

"So how you like that there swamp chicken?" Skunk asked the warriors as he peered at them through the campfire.

"It tastes kinda like penguin," Ashfeather replied, taking another huge bite out of the chicken. Goldwing and Silverheart purred to each other while resting on two alligators. "So why did you guys wanna eat Archie so badly? I mean, some of your Tribemates can take down an alligator together with a couple of blows."

Skunk let out a _mrrow_ of astonishment. "No way, little ass! Tellin' us that is like tellin' me to eat ol' Tayaut here! He's like a Tribemate of ours! Hell, he's family!"

At that, he took some chicken off from over the fire and tossed it to the alligator Goldwing was resting on. The large dark gray reptile leaned down towards the meat and gulped it down in a few bites.

Ashfeather gave Tayaut a nervous glance, mewed, "Nice gator,", and tossed a mouse at him. But Tayaut didn't seem to like that, for he let it spring off his snout and let out an intimidating growl aimed at the dark gray tabby tom. Ashfeather, meanwhile, recoiled at seeing the large sharp teeth poking out from his jaws.

"Oh, come on, now! He don't eat mice! That's cat food!" Skunk purred.

When that was finished, Bloat turned to the other cats, mewing, "So where'd ya say yer from?"

"We're warriors from the southern WaterClan," Silverheart meowed.

"Huh! I didn't know there were WaterBenders there! I mean, this is a place where WaterBenders like us live," Bloat commented. "So what's the territory and huntin' like there?"

Silverheart licked her lips, trying to savor the roasted meat flavor. "Well, there's snow and ice in our territory. And the hunting's kinda hard, but the penguins are able to be caught easily on land. Plus, our warriors could even drag down a seal or two."

Bloat and Skunk stared at them with wonder.

Finally, Bloat muttered, "Well! No wonder yaw left!"

Ashfeather turned to face his sister as he meowed in a superior tone, "See? I hope you see that there wasn't anything extraordinary about this swamp! It's all because of distant relatives living here and fighting for survival!"

"But what about the visions?" Silverheart protested, a growl in her voice.

"How many times must I say this? We were starving!" Then he turned away as he added, "Eh, whatever. If you'll excuse me, I got a big old rat to chew on!" He took a large bite out from a roasted rat the size of a badger and chewed the meat quickly before swallowing.

Goldwing turned to Ashfeather, appalled by his refusal to believe in anything beyond them. "But what about when the tree showed me how to track Archie and Tobias?"

"Oh, that's just Avatar Cat stuff. That doesn't count!" Ashfeather reassured him. To Cajun, he mewed, "But one thing I can never know is how you made that tornado come and get us here."

"I can't do anything like that," Cajun told him while he chewed on a chicken bone that sat between his front paws. "All I can do is Bend the plants in this mangrove swamp."

Ashfeather chewed a little bit before announcing and trying to pass the subject by, "Well, I guess it was just a freak accident then. But still, there's nothing odd about this swamp! So there!"

Goldwing turned to hear a loud scream echo from the outer parts of the swamp cats' camp. He could see the big-mouthed white bird land on a branch and begin to scream. To his amusement, a vine raised its tip and swatted it away as if it were a fly bothering a cow during a hot humid day.

Still, they had learned a lot by spending the past two days in the swamp. After they would sleep for the night, the Clan warriors would continue on their way to find an EarthBending mentor for Goldwing. The Avatar Cat, meanwhile, hoped that these cats could be allies they could meet up with once again...if they could clean themselves once in a while.

**...**

A black figure with a bright red mask that looked like a demon watched as the familiar ginger tabby tom from earlier padded around the EarthClan town at night. Wanting to feel blood from under his claws, he leaped down and slashed his claws against a nearby barrel, making the ginger tom turn around.

"Who's there?" he called, but the masked stranger hid away and was invisible to him. He pulled out his dagger with his jaws as he pointed it to the "invisible" thing.

Then it was time to strike. Having dug a small hole in the ground where he could fit, the masked cat leaped upwards at him and sunk his long sharp claws into his throat. As he sliced at the flesh and felt the jugular vein break beneath the pressure, he slammed him against the wall of a house, breaking his neck.

The ginger tabby tom fell dead to the ground in a pool of his blood, the dagger slipping out of his jaws at the paws of the killer. The masked creature picked the dagger up, kicked dirt over the body, and ran off into the dark night.

The Red Demon had returned.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: I know it was a bit too early, but I started making Legend Of Owlflame just some time ago. And already, Korra from the future is helping out with the chats on there. Hope that's okay with everyone.**

**Aang: That's fine, Avatar Cat. It's your story. Besides, I'm happy to see my next life's cat form!**

**Katara: And I'm glad Korra made it to Republic City. Besides, why would Tenzin want to send her back? That's what I'd like to know!**

**AvatarCat12: He thought upholding Aang's legacy is important, and that I understand, but Korra IS Aang's legacy. Remember that now.**

**Katara: I know. But still!**

**Aang: Why don't I say the review and the preview for Avatar Cat Day? (To the readers) Don't forget to review, everyone! You'll get virtual Red Demon plush dolls! Don't send any flames, or they'll be put out with WaterBending. And we allow advice, but not any harsh advice.**

**Preview: Goldwing and his pack arrive at a village, where Goldwing is accused of killing a cat in a former life. So Silverheart and Ashfeather try to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Bearclaw starts stealing from other cats, creating tension between him and his uncle**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	6. Avatar Cat Day

**AvatarCat12: Today's the day! The Last Hope And After The Flood are finally coming over today!**

**Katara: You excited for that?**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah! I'm getting them through the mail.**

**Aang: And what do you think will happen on there?**

**AvatarCat12: Well, I DO know that Firestar dies on there.**

**Katara: WHAT? He DIES? Well...I know he can't live forever. Let's go on with this first.**

**Disclaimer: Bryke and Erin Hunter are the owners of Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats. I don't own those two series; I'm just blending them together of others' enjoyment.**

**Summary: Goldwing and his pack arrive at a village, where Goldwing is accused of killing a cat in a former life. So Silverheart and Ashfeather try to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Bearclaw starts stealing from other cats, creating tension between him and his uncle.**

**Uploading Date: April 4, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**Avatar Cat Day**_

The three young Clan warriors finally managed to leave the mangrove swamp behind; they were happy to have Archie and Tobias back. Now they were back on the search for an EarthBending mentor for Goldwing before he could learn FireBending. For now, they were slumbering near a shoreline; the shore was largely made of cliffs that dropped shear into the sea. The tops of the cliffs in the foreground were forested; those in the background were grass covered.

Tobias flew down next to Ashfeather to see him lying flat on his back, his paws in the air and his mouth wide open. A small gray spider had built a web in his open mouth and sat patiently at its center. A moment later, Tobias decided to catch it, so he leaned over the dark gray tabby cat. His eyes were narrowing with interest and cawed as he saw the spider moving towards a trapped fly.

Slowly, Tobias raised one foot and extended the talons a little bit. Then, without any warning of any kind, he plunged them into his mouth just when Ashfeather opened his eyes.

…**.**

"ROWR!"

Goldwing and Silverheart woke up instantly at that shout, looking around to see who made the noise. Then they saw it: Ashfeather's eyes were wide with shock when they saw Tobias' talons in the dark gray tabby's mouth. Before Goldwing or Silverheart could do anything, Ashfeather threw his head back and made the hawk fly over his head and onto the ground.

Ashfeather panted several times before rasping to Tobias in shock, "Tobias...why...were your claws...in my mouth?"

Tobias looked up at him with a dead spider dangling from his beak.

"Ugh... Shit, Tobias! You gotta respect my borders more!" the WaterClan warrior grumbled before falling back asleep.

Goldwing and Silverheart exchanged amused looks before lying back down. They were going to fall asleep right there again...if it wasn't for the noise.

Suddenly, a noise that wasn't Ashfeather made him sit straight up; he swiveled his ears around to find the sound while Tobias rested by Ashfeather and poked his head with his beak. The noise he heard sounded rather reptilian rather than feline as he scented the air; there was something big coming at them.

Then, before he could do anything else, a large Komodo Dragon leaped out of the bushes and ran for him. Silverheart let out a yowl of horror before running to Goldwing and dragging him away from the reptile. But the horror didn't stop there, because another Komodo Dragon ran for them and stood in their way.

"Give up! We have you bordered!" the owner, a large mottled golden tom with a ring in his nose, growled. "We're the Dark Dragons, and I'm the leader! The name's Leopard!"

Then, as if spoken to by a tacit command, four other Komodo Dragons erupted from the bushes and surrounded the three cats. There were now around eight opponents versus three Clan cats; this was an unfair fight.

One rogue cat with patchy brown-&-black fur was holding a bow and arrow in his jaws. With his paws, he was able to ignite one of the arrows and hurl it at Ashfeather. Replying to this, the dark gray tabby rolled out of the way like a dog after a swim in some water. Goldwing and Silverheart let him catch up until all three of them and Tobias were safely on top of Archie, ready for liftoff.

"All right, we got past them! Let's get outta here!" Ashfeather hissed.

"My scrolls!" Silverheart suddenly yelped. Goldwing looked over his shoulder to see the scrolls lying on top of the stump they were sleeping near.

Seeing his staff among those, he added, "My staff!"

Just then, one Komodo Dragon stopped at the stump while its rider twirled a halberd around and planted it into the stump. Feeling upset and worried, Goldwing leaped off of Archie and straight for the rogues with Silverheart behind him.

He whirled about on the spot to see Silverheart's claws cover themselves with water before she lashed out at the warrior with the water. With that done, she froze the water onto the halberd that he was just using. Now that this weapon was trapped, Silverheart leaped over the warrior's head onto the stump, grabbed the scrolls in her jaws, and leaped back again. Snarling, the rogue broke through the ice and retrieved his weapon.

A tabby FireClan cavalryman launched a chain with weights at its end up to a large pine tree near the stump. The chain, anchored by the weights, wrapped itself around the tree trunk. Then the cat in charge of the weapon directed his monitor lizard to move away from the tree. Them the chain brought the tree down with a huge crash.

As Goldwing rushed for his staff, the tree fell in his way, but he leaped lightly over it. Another rogue, a large ginger tom, flicked his tail around, removing a cap from a dynamite-like stick, one of many, on his saddle. Removing the cap seemingly lighted a wick. He threw the device at the Avatar Cat just as Goldwing got to his staff when the bomb fell next to him. He saw it, and with a scowl and twirl of his staff, he threw it deeper into the forest. He leaped out of the way, and it exploded in the background.

When he got back, he saw Archie walled by the four monitors once more, snarling in defiance. He thought he saw a figure on top of a rock, and he saw that Leopard and his Komodo Dragon were sitting and looking down at the battle.

Feeling that they should leave, Goldwing waited until his friends got on board until he leaped onto Archie. "Yip yip!"

With a flick of his long tail, the Asian Lung lifted off and began flying away. Just then, he saw Leopard twirl around and shoot a fireball from his jaws right at them. Remembering when they were at Whitestorm's temple, Goldwing directed Archie into dodging them. The two WaterClan warriors were ducking every time a fireball got launched at them, yelping.

_That was a close one._

"MY BOOMERANG!"

Goldwing turned around to see Ashfeather gazing down at the ground in despair. Feeling guilty, he supposed that they were in a hurry to collect their things before heading off. Why couldn't they stop to get some more items?

Silverheart turned to face her brother. "Ashfeather, there's no time!"

Ashfeather faced her angrily, snapping, "I get it now! There's always time to get _your_ scrolls and your _staff_…" he pointed his tail to Goldwing, who felt guilty again "…but there's no time to get _my_ boomerang?"

"Hell yeah!" Silverheart purred, smiling cheerfully at him.

Ashfeather just groaned in reply.

Goldwing looked back to see Leopard glare up at them until they got away from him. He guessed that these cats were sent to assassinate them and leave their bodies to rot in the forest. Letting out a snarl, he turned away and slashed his claws at a nearby tree, tearing the bark to bits in seconds.

**...**

Sometime later, after the attack of the Dark Dragons, the three Clan warriors landed somewhere near a walled town lying nearby. A trail led to it out of the forest on the right of the area. On the other side the town, there was a connected cliff that looked over the ocean. In the foreground, Archie had landed in a forest clearing near the trail that led to town. A small shop was also nearby.

Goldwing looked over to see Ashfeather hanging his head in sorrow; despite his grief, it wasn't as bad as losing Moonfeather. He also felt guilty for not picking up the boomerang just in time before they lifted off. The Avatar Cat wanted to replay the scene and get it back, but there was no changing the past.

"Hey, Ashfeather. I'm sorry we forgot your boomerang," he mewed in apology, nudging his shoulder with his.

Meanwhile, Silverheart was talking to a vendor in a stall behind Goldwing and Ashfeather, who was still sitting on the ground, mourning for his boomerang. Goldwing had to get some dark red paint smeared over his arrow stripes so that they wouldn't get caught like when they went to the FireClan festival as apprentices.

Ashfeather shrugged his friend away and muttered, "It feels like I lost a part of myself when I lost my boomerang. Just think what life would be like if you lost your arrows, Goldwing. Or if Silverheart lost her..." Silverheart gave him a confused look "...uh...white paws?"

Then he slumped down and rested his head on his paws, sniffling a little. Silverheart gave her dark gray brother a sympathetic purr and padded over to him, nuzzling him and licking his face to cheer him up. Goldwing felt warmth spread through him; the silver she-cat seemed to know how to help a cat recover from sadness.

Goldwing heard the thud of wood on wood and whirled around to see the merchant, a pale brown tom, putting a basket of food in front of them with a fish on top. Ashfeather plodded forward to accept the food in a sad way.

"Here's your fresh-kill, dark gray cat," the merchant told him cheerfully.

Ashfeather accepted the basket of fresh-kill and then, sadly, he moaned, "Ohhh...I used to be called Boomerang Cat."

Seeing that she better pay for the fresh-kill, Silverheart padded forward, reached into her bag, and gave him some silver coins. Unexpectedly, the merchant began observing the coin with great interest and surprise.

"StarClan's kits! This must be WaterClan money!"

"Well...that's around all that we got for now, so I hope it's okay," the silver warrior meowed reasonably.

The pale brown tabby tom nodded and replied, "As long as it's money, it's okay!" Then he closed shop and began walking away from them. "Have a happy Avatar Cat Day!"

When the tabby turned to see the surprised look on their faces, he told them, "So you're heading down to the celebration, correct?"

This made Goldwing and Silverheart nod and stare at the merchant with interest; they had never heard of a holiday that celebrated the Avatar Cat. Besides, after the four early Clans disappeared, the new Clans created holidays of their own while the Guardians of Ga'Hoole created Punkie Night. Punkie Night was a mix of holidays that Twolegs called April Fool's Day and Halloween.

Then, after he left, the three Clan warriors gave each other some looks. Ashfeather still looked upset at losing his boomerang while Goldwing and Silverheart were excited at seeing this new festival. The two cats couldn't wait until they saw what it was like, remembering the FireClan festival when they were apprentices.

Also, Goldwing didn't want to behave like a haughty horse over this holiday like he did on the Tribe of Heavy Roses. He wanted to enjoy himself during this holiday without acting like a snake that just grew fur. So, in the end, all three cats had to agree to check it out and try to have some fun.

**...**

In the walled town, the three young warriors padded among the crowd of cats as festival music played in the background. Green banners flew suspended on strings across the streets. The three cats looked around in wonder, Tobias resting on top of Ashfeather's head. The dark gray tabby tom seemed to have recovered quickly from his loss.

Goldwing and Silverheart, meanwhile, were amazed at what they were seeing around them. Even though the Avatar Cat had to be disguised, Silverheart and Ashfeather were free to roam around without the use of disguises. Goldwing was amazed at how this festival was being celebrated: with some rides, games, and food to eat.

He looked around and purred, "So there IS an Avatar Cat holiday. Amazing!"

Suddenly, right beside them, a humongous float of Avatar Cat Heavyrose was wheeling away from them.

"Guys, look! It's a float for Heavyrose!" Silverheart purred as they dashed to the very edge of the town square.

"And there's a float for Whitestorm," Ashfeather added as another float, this time of Whitestorm, wheeled past them to the middle of the square.

Goldwing watched on with pride as he purred, "I know that having a holiday in the honor of the Avatar Cat is amazing and all, but honestly, I think it's just nice to feel appreciated."

Ashfeather bit into a possum on a stick as he added through a mouthful of meat, "And it's nice to appreciate their great festival food!"

At this, he took another bite out of the meat while the two other warriors looked at one another with amusement.

Suddenly, Silverheart nudged Goldwing and, when he looked at her in a confused way, pointed her tail to a tall float of himself being wheeled to the front to the square; this was placed right in front of the other Avatar Cat floats for show.

"Wow. That's the biggest me I ever saw," he meowed while smiling.

Now the three Avatar Cat floats were beside each other in the middle of the main square. A yowl made them look around to see a muscular and poorly armored brown tom running into the square with a lit torch in his jaws.

"So there's a torch now?" Ashfeather mused with interest. "Now that's what I call a nice prop! It's bright, it's dangerous..." He sniffed the air contentedly "...AND it smells like a true cat!" Then he added sheepishly, "But...I don't think I'm cut out for this. I'm happy being a warrior cat."

"Wait!" Silverheart hissed, looking alarmed. "What the hell is he doing?"

Goldwing turned to see something that made his heart stop and his eyes widen with shock: the brown tom leaped through the bottom of the Heavyrose statue and lit it on fire. He let out a battle cry before doing the same torching technique to the Whitestorm float. And all around them, the three warriors heard the crowd chant:

"Down with the Avatar Cat! Down with the Avatar Cat!"

Then, as the crowd shrieked with victory, the three Clan cats stared on in disgust as Ashfeather's mouth fell wide open, chewed-up meat falling out. Goldwing, meanwhile, couldn't believe this. This wasn't a festival that celebrated the Avatar Cat; this was a celebration that hated the Avatar Cat.

Recalling the shaggy brown loner when the hurricane came, Goldwing never knew that an entire group of cats (besides FireClan) would turn against him. But now, it was true, and they were now trapped within the walls like snakes cornered by a raccoon. He still had to wear his disguise to make sure these cats didn't find him and beat him up...or worse.

**...**

The Red Demon crouched on an oak tree branch, ready to spring down onto his next victim. And right on cue, two cats (a gray tom and a pale ginger she-cat) were padding along the road under the tree. The Red Demon could see the gray tom pulling a small wagon with two baskets of food and supplies in then.

Silently and quickly, he leapt down in front of them and glared at them with a stare that would paralyze an elk. He rushed to them, bit into the rope that connected the wagon to the harness, and batted the tom on the ears. Since this was a couple, he decided to spare them...for now. He bent down, took the rope in his jaws, and ran off with the baskets and wagon in tow.

The Red Demon quickly leaped over a log with his baskets of loot in tow while he went through the forest. Above him, he could see a chameleon lashing its lengthy tongue out at a dragonfly and taking it into its mouth, eating it. Ignoring the distraction, the Red Demon finally arrived at a small cave and hid the mask under a hawthorn bush.

The Red Demon...was Bearclaw.

The dark brown tabby tom rolled around on the ground until the black paint was off of his fur and his dark tabby fur was back. Then he got up, retrieved his loot, and dragged them into cave, where Irontail was waiting while tending to a small fire.

His gray tabby uncle looked up at him while Bearclaw tossed the two baskets in front of him. "Nephew, where did you get those?"

Not wanting to tell the truth, Bearclaw turned away and growled, "What does it matter?"

He looked back to see Irontail lash his tail, muttering, "Hmmm..." Then he poked his paw at a pile of green food and ate it. As drool dripped from his mouth, he purred, "Mmmmm!"

Bearclaw rolled his eyes and started to lick at a bleeding cut on his front leg he received from being scraped by a stray twig. _Thank StarClan he's distracted, _he thought.

**...**

"Down with the Avatar Cat! Down with the Avatar Cat!" the crowd kept yowling.

Goldwing and his friends sat there, looking shocked at what was happening right there. While they watched this horror show, a gray-&-white tom (certainly the mayor of the town) gave the torch cat a signal, who threw his torch at the Goldwing float. It landed on the right eye and began to burn.

Now Goldwing was too upset to protest while Ashfeather looked on with shock as he tossed his food away. Goldwing looked around to see what Silverheart's reaction was, but she wasn't there. Then he saw her loping towards the floats with rage in her blue eyes as she Bended water from two nearby water caskets, putting out the burning floats.

However, this caused complaining throughout the crowd. One even pointed his tail at her as he carped, "Hey! That bitch is ruining the celebration!"

Feeling angry about how this turned out, Goldwing leaped upwards while paying no attention to Ashfeather telling him to stay still. With that, he settled himself on his float's right shoulder.

To the crowd, he yowled, "Hey! That 'bitch' is my friend, jackasses!" He put a lot of emphasis on the word to show how much that wasn't true.

Then he rubbed himself against the statue until the red paint fell away, revealing his white arrow stripes. Below him, he could see Ashfeather shake his head in defeat; Goldwing knew very well what his friend would do at a crisis like this. But he wasn't sure how the crowd would react to his appearance, and the next one didn't make him feel better.

All of the cats shrieked in horror while the gray-&-white mayor cried, "It's the Avatar Cat!"

The cat that shouted earlier wailed, "He's come to destroy us with his Avatar Cat powers!"

"No, I'm not," Goldwing tried to mew in a calm attitude. To show that he meant it, he raised one paw in a friendly way. "I just..."

"Then you must leave this instant," the mayor sniffed in a snobbish way. "You are not welcome here, Avatar Cat, and you are not one of us!"

Silverheart turned to glare at him. "Why shouldn't he? He helps cats in times of danger!"

Goldwing leapt down from the float to stand at her side, feeling better that there was one point to tell the cats. He added, "She's right. I'm on your side."

However, the mayor sniffed again and retorted critically, "I, Zulu...mayor of this town, by the way...say it is hard for me to believe because of what you did to our leader. It was Avatar Cat Heavyrose of EarthClan who slew our best leader ever, Battlestar the Great!"

Now those words made him stop objecting and stare at the haughty mayor in shock. In AirClan, to kill a cat or prey for fun instead of defense or for food was considered a crime. Plus, he knew that an AirClan cat would never kill a cat. But another worrying thought made him shudder: did he really kill someone, even in a past life?

"So you say I..._killed_ another cat?"

An ugly old black cat garbled, "We used to be fine before you slew our leader! Now _look_ at us!"

But Goldwing looked away, revolted at that cat's looks and ashamed that he killed someone.

Immediately, Silverheart leaped in front of Goldwing and placed herself between her friend and the town's cats. "Goldwing would never do anything like that! No Avatar cat would ever murder a cat deliberately." Lashing her tail angrily, she snarled accusingly at them, "Plus, it's not fair for all of you to question his honor like this! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!"

"Well, here's what WE think about his 'honor!'" one tabby cat protested. Then he turned away from her, blew a raspberry, and waggled his behind at her.

While the crowd cheered for the tabby, Silverheart let out a growl of disgust and slid her claws out. But fearing that the silver she-cat would start a fight and get into trouble, Goldwing quickly licked her ear to calm her down. Silverheart pulled her claws back, but her fur was still ruffled and her blue eyes still had anger in them.

To the crowd, he called, "Look, just give me a chance! A chance to clear my name."

Zulu replied, "The only way to prove your innocence is to stand trial for if you are guilty or not."

"I'll do it. I'd be happy to stand trial," Goldwing told him boldly.

"All right. You may stand trial," the mayor decided. "But you have to obey _all_ the rules. And that even includes paying bail."

Goldwing nodded. "Gladly."

**...**

"Damn. How was I supposed to know they won't accept WaterClan money?"

For Goldwing was thrown into a jail cell with a stock closing around his neck. Outside his prison cell, Silverheart was shaking her head with her face buried in her forepaw. Ashfeather, for now, looked sullen and grumpy as he leaned against the wall. Tobias joined up beside him and cawed sadly for his owner's release.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing's prison cell was in fact an open air courtyard with a grated observation window into the jail building where Ashfeather and Silverheart were standing. Silently, the Avatar Cat prayed to StarClan to help this day get better. But for a few minutes, the only sound heard was the wind blowing against the walls.

"So some cats hate you. So what?" Ashfeather was telling him. "There's FireClan, for example: they're the main ones who don't like you. Now let's get you out of that hellhole."

"I...I can't," Goldwing mewled, hanging his head.

Ashfeather rolled his eyes. "Of course you can! You do a slice and dice move with your claws and..." He performed the attack with jumping and slicing until he whirled around to slice at the air; Goldwing knew this was something he could learn, "...and you'll use AirBending Slice! Then we'll continue our journey!"

"What Mr. Slice and Dice Cat is trying to say," Silverheart interrupted, her voice disdainful, "is that you have to be out in the world, trying to save it. Staying here in this cell won't cut it."

Goldwing mewed with defeat, "But I can't do that _if_ I'm a murderer either. I need you to help prove my innocence; I'm _not_ a killer."

"But how the hell will you do that?" Ashfeather asked him, his dark gray tabby fur brushing up against the bars. "That crime happened fifty years ago."

Instantly, Goldwing wished he didn't say that; this mission seemed to be tough, and he wanted to prove that he was innocent so badly. But the dark gray tabby tomcat was right; the incident of the murder did happen over fifty years ago. And yet, however, there was a way to get around him to get him to help out.

So, as craftily as he could, he replied, "Eh...it's all right, Ashfeather. I thought you were a great detective that knows everything."

Quite slowly and readily, the golden tom saw Ashfeather's pale blue eyes give him a confused look. But very quickly, that changed to a proud and haughty way. Goldwing knew his WaterClan friend had some high self-esteem inside him; that helped him pass the Rock Dodging that all three cats had to pass.

_Besides, a little detective work won't hurt. Will it?_

"Well...I _guess_ everyone calls me that," Ashfeather meowed pompously. "I get classified as that sometimes."

"That's right!" Silverheart mewed eagerly, while Goldwing knew that she was just playing along. "Back in WaterClan, he got famous for solving the mystery case of the missing penguin egg."

Then Ashfeather bragged on, "Of course everyone wanted to say it was a bald eagle that stole the egg. But then, I found out that it was an elder named Harefur swishing his tail from side to side and making wide flat marks in the snow. You see, a real bald eagle have their toes splayed out while a cat's toes are more pressed together. Plus, there's the point in it being lighter. You know what? I think I _might_ be good."

While Ashfeather was telling the story of the penguin egg, Silverheart was shaking her head in a gesture of futility. Goldwing, meanwhile, made a few gestures at Ashfeather with his tail, telling him that he thought that it now sounded absurd. But the dark gray tabby tom, however, was very oblivious to both of these and failed to notice them.

"So you'll help me out?" Goldwing asked him. The AirClan warrior hoped this was true.

"Sure! But I gotta get ready and get some props," Ashfeather added. Very swiftly as if seeing a blur, Goldwing watched as Ashfeather pulled a hat off of the wall and put it on his head. Then he just needed to say four words:

"Let's do this shit."

As he extended a magnifying glass out of hat that rests in from of his right eye, Silverheart began giggling at him. Ashfeather glared at her.

He padded over to her and extended the magnifying glass out a bit more, hunched over to see her better. Goldwing just watched as they dodged each other as Silverheart tried to get away from her brother teasingly. He just hoped that they would start soon.

**...**

In the bushes, the Red Demon saw an armored wagon with a small trailer traveling through a forest scene. It was pulled by a large black stallion. Inside there, a plump ginger-&-gray tabby merchant was looking at an open cash box with glee as he greedily played with the coins. The Red Demon shook his head in disgust; fat cats like that were nothing but kittypets to him.

Leaping into a large elm tree, he waited until the time was right before landing on the cart with a thud. He leered at the driver and pounced on him, unsheathing his claws and swiping them across his throat, blood pouring out faster than a river. Then he let the dead driver fall off to the ground, causing the carriage to stop. He looked down through the top window to see that the merchant's grabbed his cash box protectively. The fat cat looked around in alarm and closed and locked the cash box.

The Red Demon watched as the fat tomcat sighed with relief before unsheathing his dagger-like claws and slicing through the window without bleeding. He leaped down into the carriage, took the cash box from his front paws into his jaws, and leaped out once again. With that done, he leaped onto the black horse, broke it free from its chain, and rode it swiftly back to his hideout.

**...**

On the sea side of the city of Laurel (which was named after Battlestar's mother), there was a small temple right on the cliff facing the water below. The temple was tilted toward the bottom of the hill. Behind the temple, between it and the city walls, the benches of an amphitheater were cut into the hillside.

Silverheart and Ashfeather met up with the Mayor of the town and told him they could gather evidence from around the area. The Mayor at first protested, but then he gave up in the end. So the three cats prowled to the temple with their tails held high in case some prey was nearby.

"This is the scene of the crime," the gray-&-white cat told the two WaterClan warriors.

As they approached the temple, Ashfeather began his search almost straight away. This was the perfect chance for his detective skills to be put to the test, as Volefoot once called it. He looked through his magnifying glass for a moment, which made his eye huge. The Mayor stood at the edge of the cliff and pointed to a small pawprint at his paws.

Then he meowed, "This is the pawprint of the murderer, Heavyrose. It happened at sunset fifty years ago today. She leapt from the temple and struck Battlestar down, sinking her claws into his throat. After that awful day, we built this statue to honor the best leader that existed in the Clans. Feel free to admire it."

Ashfeather nodded before inspecting the statue of a stern EarthClan warrior made of pink rock near the temple. Meanwhile, the Mayor walked away as if not wanting to hear the Avatar Cat's innocence. Ignoring that, Ashfeather padded around the area, taking a sniff now and then, and hoped to try and solve this mystery quick as a flash. After a few more sniffing here and there, he straightened up.

"Hmmm..." he muttered. "This temple and this statue were cut out from the same stone. We now know that this statue was built right after Battlestar was killed."

"So if they're built the same way at the same time," Silverheart added, getting excited, "then that means..."

But Ashfeather interrupted her by padding over to her and clamping his tail over her mouth. "I wanna solve it!" He cleared his throat and finished, "Then that means Heavyrose _wasn't_ in this temple!"

Silverheart got around her brother's tail by biting it; that made Ashfeather yowl in surprise and whirl around to face her. Then she mewed, "Well, this is a big hole in the Mayor's story, but it's still not enough to prove Goldwing's innocence!"

_Damn, she's right. _Ashfeather smacked his forehead with his paw. _I should've thought of that!_ Out loud, he replied, "You're right about that! We need to return to Heavyrose Island and get more evidence from the Tribe of Heavy Roses."

Then, to add drama to the scene, he produced a water pipe out of nowhere, and proceeded to blow a few bubbles.

"Um...where'd you get that?" Silverheart asked him.

Ashfeather didn't tell her accurately, but he did know one thing: they were actually returning to Heavyrose Island. But he had another reason why he wanted to go there: Echo In Quiet Storm, the red tabby island guard. Ever since Moonfeather died, Ashfeather had been dreaming of Echo a lot, but he tried to ignore the dreams. He just hoped that he could see her once again.

**...**

A tan elephant shrew peeked out from behind a few pots. It sniffed around with its long nose, moved forward, and picked up an acorn. Goldwing looked around at it, still in his stocks. The elephant shrew jumped out of the area with a few squeaks leaving Goldwing to sigh.

It was quite a few hours since he got locked up in this cell, and a he was getting hungry. The last thing he ate was a thrush he caught before they entered the Avatar Cat Day festival...or so they called it. That wasn't a festival; this was a trap for an Avatar Cat. He wished he and Silverheart didn't vote to come to this town because he was afraid of what would happen to him. If he died, then AirClan would be extinct, and the world would be in more danger.

"You've got quite some golden fur..." a deep voice echoed.

Startled, Goldwing turned around on the spot and looked up toward their ceiling; there was a partial roof overhanging that part of the courtyard, and the voice emanated from the dark area underneath.

"...and you've got quite the stripes..." the voice mewed again.

And then, a large cream tabby tom leaped out at him with claws unsheathed and a battle cry. The tom's face was covered in spots of red; Goldwing thought it was blood. Plus, red and black spots littered his entire body. He ran forward at Goldwing with a cry of rage, but he couldn't get to him because he was restrained before he reached him by chains.

The tom stopped trying to attack as he purred with false kindness, "I think we're gonna get along well, little bastard…"

Goldwing managed to pull off a fake weak smile and smile broadly at the large tom. But inside, he was thinking: _When will those two come back here?_

**...**

Ashfeather's heart beat faster when Archie approached Heavyrose Island; he knew that at any minute, Echo would come over to him and nuzzle him. Then perhaps, he could ask her to hunt or train with him sometime. But he knew she was a Tribe cat and he was a Clan cat; friendships like this were rare, but it worked out well for his ancestors, Stormfur and Brook Where Small Fish Swim.

He watched as an island guard saw them approach and rang a massive gong that rang out for the island to hear. The WaterClan cats saw a familiar stumpy-tailed cream tom smile up to them as he picked up his herbs and put them in his den. Archie landed in front of Heavyrose's statue and among the crowd of Tribe cats, faces he hadn't seen for a few moons.

Among them was Fish That Leaps Over Water; the small brown she-cat had grown to probably become a to-be. There was also the pale gray Foaming Mouth Cat, who appeared and pushed through the cheering crowd. He did what Ashfeather thought he was best at: foaming at the mouth before fainting.

"Hey!" Fish called out, sounding older than when they last visited. "Where'd Goldy go?"

"He couldn't come here, Fish," Silverheart told her calmly. But Ashfeather thought he could see jealousy form in her dark blue eyes.

As all the Tribe cats let out groans of disappointment, Fish and her friends began whining. Fish mewled, "Awww! I really wanted to see him again!"

The Foaming Mouth Cat got to his paws and wiped the saliva from his face, looking somewhat embarrassed. He lowered his head and flattened his ears before he slunk out of the way. The crowd broke up and padded away, but the Teller of the Falling Roses soon approached them.

"Welcome back, Silverpaw and Ashpaw!" the Healer purred.

"Thank you, Roseteller," Silverheart meowed, "but we're warriors now. We're now Silverheart and Ashfeather. Anyways, Goldwing just got thrown into prison. The town of Laurel is saying that he murdered a cat in his past life."

Ashfeather spoke up, "And they say that it was Avatar Cat Heavyrose who killed that cat."

Roseteller's eyes glowed with shock and anger as his stubby tail wagged furiously. "Avatar Cat Heavyrose KILLING someone? That is the most beetle-brained thing I have ever heard! I'll show you to her shrine; maybe something there will help you clear her name."

**...**

As the Healer led the two young Clan warriors to Heavyrose's shrine, Ashfeather began sniffing the air. Not for prey, but for Echo. But so far, as they went through the woods that had no other predators besides weasels, there was nothing else besides prey.

So he asked Roseteller, "So, uh...is Echo here?"

"No. She left the island with some of her friends to help fight in the War," the creamy brown tom replied over his shoulder. "You know, you three Clan cats have a huge impact for Echo In Quiet Storm. She said you three helped encourage her, and now she wants to help save the world. I have you three to thank for that."

"Oh...okay, then," Ashfeather replied quite sadly.

He wanted to see Echo again so badly that his heart felt like splitting in two. But he was careful not to say it out loud or Silverheart would tease him like there was no tomorrow.

After that, they padded under a paifang gate and arrived at another temple overlooking the sea. It looked almost like the same one at Laurel Town except it was smaller than that previous shrine. Plus, in front of the holy place and standing tall was another Heavyrose statue...except that this was fully colored to her true color: tortoiseshell and white.

Roseteller cocked his head to the shrine and meowed, "You can see that this temple was changed into a shrine to honor Avatar Cat Heavyrose."

They followed him inside, where it was dark and filled with Heavyrose's goods and weapons. Ashfeather couldn't help but feel amazed at how many things the Avatar Cat from two lives ago could store in one small shrine.

"The ministers tell us that these remnants are still connected to her spirit. That's her kimono she used for special occasions," the Healer of the Tribe told the cats, pointing his muzzle to a large green kimono hanging on the wall.

Silverheart reared onto her hind legs and touched it softly. "Hmmm...looks like she had some good taste, eh?"

"Don't touch, please," Roseteller quickly meowed, and Silverheart got back onto all four paws.

Ashfeather sniffed at the fans and nudged them a little, musing with some sort of affection, for he remembered Echo training him to fight like an island guard. "These fans...they must be her weapons."

"Also don't touch," Roseteller meowed with a sigh.

A gasp from his sister made the dark gray tabby tom turn around to see what Silverheart saw. In front of her were golden battle claws. But these claws were as big as a lion's claws, and he never knew any regular cat to grow to enormous size.

"Are these her battle claws?" Silverheart squeaked. "Her paws must be the biggest I've seen!" As she continued to study the huge battle claws, Tobias walked around the claws and observed them carefully. He cawed at Silverheart and flew onto her shoulder.

Roseteller looked over at the claws and purred with pride, "Yes, those are her battle claws. She has the biggest paws of any Avatar Cat; in fact, she's also the biggest Avatar Cat in history."

Suddenly, Silverheart's blue eyes widened with realization, and Ashfeather wondered what was going on. Meanwhile, his sister mewed, "Hold on. Large paws...and tiny pawprints..." Then, her face now full of realization, she meowed happily, "Then there's no way in Hell..."

Ashfeather interrupted her by clearing his throat loudly. He wanted to solve the case; after all, he said he was a good detective. "Hello? Amazing outfit? Hat and pipe? These mean anything to you? Eh?"

"Oh, you're _so_ right," Silverheart replied with mock respect. "I apologize. Please continue."

"Thanks." Then, as hugely as he could, he declared, "Aha! There's no way in Hell Heavyrose could've made that pawprint; she's too big to make one like that! Therefore, nothing is linking her to the scene of the crime!"

Silverheart rolled her eyes, looking unimpressed. "Brilliant. Just brilliant."

**...**

Back at the prison cell, two cats managed to calm the big cream-colored tom down, so they let Goldwing share their fresh-kill with them. But now that the young Avatar Cat had freed himself, he could eat right now and dodge an attack in case they struck. After that, he told them about how he loved Silverheart and wanted to be her mate; however, he didn't tell them her name.

The cream-colored tom with the blood-red spots spoke first: "So this she-cat you like...don't you worry. She'll come around. Just hang in there."

Goldwing, who now sat on the stock that imprisoned him, listened carefully. "You think so?" he asked the big tom hopefully.

All of the prisoners began speaking at once and they had answers like "Sure!" "Yeah!" or even "You're a good cat!"

"But...I'm not so sure..." Goldwing muttered, looking away. He felt unsure about if Silverheart liked him back; of course they used love to escape from the Secret Tunnels, but that was just one time.

"Oh, come on! Buck up!" the large creamy tom insisted, cuffing him friskily on the ears. "You're a smart cat, you're handsome, and let's not forget that you're the Avatar Cat! No son of a bitch would get her with you around, that's for sure!"

Goldwing looked down to think it over. The three prisoners were right. With modesty, he knew he was a smart and handsome cat since his muscles were a bit stronger because of training with Silverheart. Then he remembered that since some parts of the Warrior Code were now forgotten, some of the non-rules, like Clan interbreeding, have become more common.

"Thank you. You guys really know a lot of stuff," he purred, smiling.

"Please, kid. Don't be discouraged. Tell her how you feel about her," the third prisoner (a brown tom with a painted green face) told him in a touched voice. Then he used one claw to wipe away a tear in his eye.

Goldwing dipped his head to them again as they handed him another elephant shrew to eat. It was nice to hang around these cats and share his problems with them (and them to him), but it felt much better to talk to his real friends. He wasn't sure what these cats did to be trapped in here, but he felt that they were doing their best to change for the better.

**...**

Meanwhile, back at Heavyrose Island, Roseteller showed the two warriors a beautiful pastoral wall painting in the temple shrine. Silverheart and Ashfeather examined it closely; there could be some clues from within that painting.

"This painting you see is called 'The Birth of Heavyrose,'" the cream-colored tom explained. As he padded up to it and raised himself onto his hind legs, he added, "This was painted at sunrise around fifty-two years that this island had been founded. Why, in fact, this island was founded fifty-two years today!"

Ashfeather spat his pipe out when he heard about this information. He had no idea that it was so long since Heavyrose founded the island. In fact, it was longer than any Clan leader today could even remember.

"Fifty-two years...hold on!" He immediately grabbed Roseteller's shoulders with his front paws and asked, "Are you really sure it was today?"

Tossing Ashfeather away, the Healer replied in an annoyed way, "Seeing that today is Heavyrose Day, then yes, I'm sure."

Ashfeather nodded and looked back at the picture. And another clue was on the spot: the sun was set in a different position than what the Mayor told them. So he padded up to the painting and mewed, "Wait. This ritual doesn't even happen at sunrise; it happened at sun_set_. Just look at these shadows."

"You're right," Silverheart piped up, looking at the painting also. "These shadows are pointing to the east. So the sun was maybe setting in the west."

"So what? What does it mean?" Roseteller asked.

Immediately, Ashfeather shoved his silver littermate out of the way because he wanted to say the clue once again. "If Heavyrose was at the ceremony at sunset, then she wasn't at Laurel Town committing the crime! And she wasn't the one who committed the murder! She has...an alibi!"

But all he received was Silverheart taking the pipe in her jaws and bonking him over the head with it.

**...**

"Respectable Mayor, we've prepared a solid defense for the Avatar Cat. We did a methodical investigation, and we found some very strong evidence."

Silverheart and Ashfeather had returned from the Tribe of Heavy Roses and returned to prison to tell Goldwing everything. At first, Goldwing was surprised, but he was happy that his name and Heavyrose's name would be cleared up. It was Silverheart who started explaining the situation to the Mayor, who looked very haughty as he always did.

When Silverheart finished talking, Ashfeather gave a smile and a wink to Goldwing. The Avatar Cat did the same for his WaterClan friend before they turned back to the Mayor.

But the mayor sniffed smugly, "Evidence! Hmph! That's not how our court system works! We have no need for that!"

"Then how _can_ I prove my innocence?" Goldwing growled impatiently.

"It's simple. I will say what happened, and then YOU will say what happened. After a short time for thinking, I'LL decide who's right!"

All three cats gasped at him in unison, looking horrified. Then Ashfeather spat, "What the fuck! What about democracy? Ancient Twolegs used it since the beginning of time!"

But the gray-&-white tom sniffed again and meowed arrogantly, "Who cares? That's why we call our court system justice. Because it's all about 'just-us!' Hahaha!"

At that, he trotted away from the Clan warriors, laughing arrogantly. Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather just stared at one another in horror and defeat. This cat was being unfair about court systems; it seemed that only the Mayor got to say who was right before throwing the wrong cat in prison. It seemed that everyone wanted to see the Avatar Cat dead...no matter if the Avatar Cat was either guilty or innocent.

But they had to try so that they could continue their journey.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Silverheart tried hard not to tremble as the town's cats had gathered at the amphitheater they saw yesterday. The silver warrior had felt her blood boil at the sound of the Mayor deciding who was guilty or innocent and she knew he would make Goldwing guilty. But as Ashfeather sat beside her and gave her a comforting nuzzle, she let her fur lie flat.

Now every cat quieted down as the Mayor stood up to speak. Silverheart felt herself growling once again, but she knew better. So she sat back down and listened to the speech.

The Mayor was now speaking: "Everyone loved Battlestar the Great, for he was a great and very perfect cat. Then along came the Avatar Cat..." he pointed his tail to Goldwing, who was still in his shacks "...who showed up and killed him! And that's how it happened!"

Then he leaped away from the center with a self-righteous grin, which made Silverheart give yet another small growl.

"The accused will now present its argument."

The bailiff's monotone voice made Silverheart look back up as she saw Goldwing stagger up to the front of the area with some trouble. This was because he was still locked in the stock and she supposed that they called him an "it" to humiliate him and take his rights away. Silverheart really wanted to break him out and take him away from this town. But there would be trouble, so she watched as Ashfeather padded up to the AirClan warrior.

"Don't worry, buddy. You can do this. Just remember all the evidence we got," the dark gray tabby tom was whispering to him before sitting back down next to his sister.

As soon as everyone was settled, Goldwing cleared his throat and announced, "Cats of Laurel Town, let me tell you what really happened. And I'll prove it to you with the facts. So...uh...fact number one. Uh..."

He looked over at his friends, which made Silverheart groan and Ashfeather hiss, "The prints! Tell them about the pawprints!"

"Got it," Goldwing hissed back. To the crowd, he meowed, "Look. I have very huge paws." But he awkwardly put his left front leg out and showed them his paw; his paws were quite small and AirClan used them for jumping and running, not fighting.

Since the crowd was getting more unimpressed by the minute, Goldwing went on weakly, "One other thing that I would like to add is that your...temple matches your statue really well. But...I was in a painting at sunset, you know!" Then he wrapped it up by putting on a wide smile and mewed, "And there you have it! I'm not guilty!"

The crowd still looked very unimpressed, but Silverheart and Ashfeather had put on the biggest smiles on their faces they could congregate. Even though Goldwing's defense was lame, they had to support him until the end. Ashfeather gave an awkward nod to his friend before turning to Silverheart while they still smiled as he mewed:

"He is so screwed."

**...**

Bearclaw slammed his paw down onto a mouse in the cave and padded over to Irontail. He laid it at his uncle's forepaws while the plump gray tabby studied the golden bowl he was holding in his front legs. Meanwhile, Bearclaw didn't want his uncle to ask questions about he got their stuff, but the talking came out anyways.

"You seem to have done some serious shopping." He finished the mouse in a couple of bites, got up, and padded over to the fire, staring into it. "But I would like to know about where you got the money."

"You like your new cream bowl?" Bearclaw asked him, trying to avoid the question.

Irontail mewed, "To be honest with you, Bearclaw, the best that cream could ever taste is either from a porcelain or tin bowl." He padded to Bearclaw, who lied with his back to the wall of the cave. "I know we've had some hard times, and we've had to fight just to get by." Then he laid his tail on Bearclaw's shoulder and mewed, "But it's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, there is honor in scarcity."

But Bearclaw pulled away from his uncle. "But there's no honor for me without the Avatar Cat."

"Bearclaw..." Irontail sighed, "Even _if_ you capture the Avatar Cat, I don't think that will solve our problems. Well...it could, but not right now."

"Then there's no hope," the dark tabby mumbled suddenly.

Irontail mewed quickly, "No, my nephew! Do not give in to despair. If you let sorrow carry you down its path, then you will surrender to your lowest instincts like killing or stealing. And in the darkest hours, hope is something you can give yourself. That is the true meaning of inner peace, even outside of battle."

The former FireClan elder watched as his nephew looked back at his uncle for a moment, and then he got up to leave. He padded away from the cave with his head down and his remaining ear flattened with defeat. Irontail wished he could do something to help, but he was afraid that he only pushed him away further.

**...**

After the first round of the trail, Silverheart and Ashfeather had taken Goldwing aside to get him geared up for the next part. She had gone over what he did wrong, and they decided to give him some additional evidence to prove their innocence. After a few minutes of getting the Avatar Cat prepared, she was now ready to carry on with her friend's defense.

Feeling ready, Silverheart told the Mayor in front of the crowd, "Mayor Zulu, I'd like to humbly let the court hear just one last testimony."

"Haven't I already told you, mouse-brain?" Zulu hissed as he jumped up in anger. "It's only me and the accused that get to speak! And you can't get any witnesses!"

Those words made Silverheart want to leap at the Mayor and rip his throat out with her fangs. But she held herself back in time, so she let her fur lie flat as she retorted coolly, "I know, but this isn't just any old witness. I am going to summon..." she gestured her tail wildly in the air "...Avatar Cat Heavyrose herself!"

The crowd of cats began to mutter to each other quietly and yet so timidly. Silverheart kinked her tail to the bailiff to pad forward and away. Soon, the bailiff padded away to reveal Goldwing...in painted tortoiseshell-&-white fur with a kimono wrapped all around him. He also had big battle claws fitted over his own claws; plus, he had a fan in his jaws and it covered his face.

Silverheart was pleased to have painted the white paint exactly how Heavyrose had her face and pelt painted. Giving Zulu a pleased grin, she padded away and sat down next to Ashfeather, who was staring at her in shock.

"Silverheart...what the hell are you doing?" he hissed to her quietly.

"Well, she _is_ Goldwing's past life two lives ago, right?" Silverheart reasoned. "If he wears all that stuff, maybe we can trigger something."

Ashfeather just gave her a cautious nod, and the silver WaterClan warrior knew what her brother was thinking about. Sometime after the three cats became warriors, an EarthClan warrior named Birchbark had wanted to generate the Avatar Cat State from Goldwing...by force. Silverheart had been a victim in the gray-&-brown tom's cruel rage, but she survived.

But after seeing this for a few seconds, her brother finally agreed with her while adjusting his eye glass. "Hmmm...I _do_ believe in battle gear."

Zulu snarled with rage, "This is a mockery of the memory of our adored Battlestar the Great!"

"Just listen!" Silverheart spat. "Just wait for a minute, and she'll give out her own testimony!"

Then, as if on cue, Silverheart kinked her tail at Goldwing to begin as she hoped that this would work. If not, then he would be dead meat. At this, Goldwing dropped the fan slightly to reveal his painted face and his eyes blinked to disguise his true self.

"Uh...greetings, everyone!" he mewed in an uncertain mock female voice. "Um...it's me...Avatar Cat Heavyrose!"

"This is so ludicrous!" Zulu spat, pointing his paw towards Goldwing angrily. "For the murder of our great leader, Battlestar the Great, this court finds the Avatar Cat..."

But as Mayor Zulu tried to finish, a whirlwind appeared around Goldwing, obscuring the young AirClan warrior from view. The sky darkened, and Silverheart couldn't see anything at first. So far, she thought it was going to fail, but this had saved Goldwing...but not in a way she expected it to.

The whirlwind around Goldwing dissolved, and Silverheart watched as the wind revealed Avatar Cat Heavyrose herself, magnificent and beautiful in her kimono. She was a gigantic cat about the size of a lioness with a short tortoiseshell-&-white pelt and fierce amber eyes. The massive she-cat was looking down to the ground before fixing everyone with her tawny stare.

"It is true. I killed Battlestar the Great, but it was for a good cause," Heavyrose purred with mild guilt. There was only pity and a little bit of remorse. Then she told her story:

"A horrible leader and dictator, he was expanding his Clan territory all over the continent like Darkstar of FireClan is doing today. When he arrived at the edge of the cape where we lived, he quickly demanded our rapid surrender. But though I warned him I would fight back and not sit by passively, he refused to back away.

"So our fight began. While our armies fought, we split from the mainland on that same day; from that, Battlestar had fallen to his death. I created the Tribe of Heavy Roses from the new island and I appointed my daughter Fish That Leaps Into Ocean as the first Roseteller. I created that island so that my cats would be protected from our enemies forever."

Silverheart could see the scene now. She saw the image of a dark gray-&-white tom sitting on a throne and demanding the death of his enemies. Then she saw him using an EarthBending attack on a lump of stone out of the floor, letting the stone fall on his enemy and crushing him to death. Blood splattered all over his fur.

Then she saw another vision of him and his army of warriors lining up for battle with Avatar Cat Heavyrose on her own side with her warriors. When the leaders padded to each other, Heavyrose used her fan to use AirBending on Battlestar and causing his whiskers to fall off. The dark tom looked very angry and launched himself at the large tortoiseshell.

As all the cats fought, Heavyrose's closed eyes opened with a white light, and she herself (with a bleeding shoulder) jumped up, extended her fans, and sliced one in a sweeping motion to her left. The peninsula ripped open from her position all the way to where the land met the sea as the cats looked on. She did the same on her other side, then she straightened up and closed her fans in one smooth motion.

She jumped up and landed with her hind legs bent and her tail pointed sideways. She struck the ground with her two closed fans while Battlestar looked a little scared. Then the large Avatar Cat (while standing on a fissure) waved her fans in a few quick but complex signs and raised a wall of intense flame from the break. The wall rose high into the air like a tidal wave.

The wall of flame then dropped, and Heavyrose created a strong wind that blew most of the army away and pushed the island at an amazing speed away from the mainland. Once the island was out of sight, Battlestar screeched in frustration at his defeat. As he yowled, the rock underneath him, which hung out over a shear drop to the surf below, crumbled as he fell, howling to his death.

When Silverheart came back to the present, she realized that Heavyrose did kill Battlestar, but in an indirect way. And now she knew how the Tribe of Heavy Roses and their island came to be.

With this done, the spirit of Avatar Cat Heavyrose lowered her face and was consumed again by the whirlwind. The artificial darkness got reeled back by the whirlwind. Soon, the young Avatar Cat was himself again, though he looked exhausted. Silverheart leaped forward and held him up with her shoulder when he was going to faint.

"Ugh...Silverheart? What...what just happened?" he mewed with confusion and fatigue.

"I think you...confessed. Sorry," Silverheart added when Goldwing gave her a sad look, and she let him bury his face into her neck fur.

At that moment, Mayor Zulu got to his paws and shook his fur, growling, "_And_ this court finds you _guilty_! Now bring out the Wheel of Penalties!"

Silverheart put herself between her friend and some guards, but they easily tossed her away and dragged him up to the stage. Tobias couldn't do anything but hide his face behind his wings in fear. Silverheart felt herself gag at the sickening crowd cheering; she just wanted to go up to the stage and save her friend.

**...**

As Irontail began grooming his thick coat, he kept thinking about what his nephew had told him. But he knew that if Bearclaw kept being pessimist, he would give in to the darkness in his heart. He needed to find hope and cheer up so that he could be a happy cat on the run.

"Uncle?"

Irontail's ears twitched to let Bearclaw know that he was listening.

So Bearclaw meowed on, "I was thinking about what you told me."

"Really?" Irontail asked him, surprised. "Well, that's good! Very good indeed!"

"But it made me realize something," Bearclaw's words made Irontail stop talking. Then what he said was unexpected "It made me realize that we can't travel together anymore. We have nothing to gain if we keep this up; besides, all rogues stay alone sometimes. I've got to find my way."

Irontail felt sorrow run through his heart like an icy river carrying daggers. Feeling that there was nothing he could do, he looked down and slumped slightly in sadness. He turned around in time to see Bearclaw pick up a pack and begin to pad away. But he now knew what he could do:

"Wait, nephew!"

Quickly, he led their stolen pinto mare to him and placed the reigns in Bearclaw's strong jaws. The dark brown tabby tom affectionately rubbed noses with his uncle before leaping on top of the horse. He looked back at his uncle once, and then he shook the reigns as the horse galloped away.

Now Irontail was alone and depressed, but he looked to the sunny sky and murmured a prayer to StarClan: "Please watch over my nephew. Let him return safely one day."

**...**

Goldwing bowed his head and noticed that he was still painted like Avatar Cat Heavyrose, the kimono still on him. He was standing in front of a large wheel, kit-steps away from facing his untimely punishment. But he was the Avatar Cat, and one duty of an Avatar Cat was to accept blame for any disaster.

"The accused will now spin the Wheel of Penalties to conclude his sentence," the bailiff mewed in that same monotone voice.

Goldwing looked up at the wheel; the wheel was divided into eight wedges. Each of the wedges had a symbol on it that indicated the punishments he would get. Among them were getting boiled in lava, a torture machine, eaten by a bear, crushed by an elephant, forced to sleep in a cage of spikes, burned alive, getting his head smashed by two rocks, and community service. On top was an indicator that determined the punishment when the wheel stopped spinning.

The AirClan warrior felt squeamish about those penalties; these weren't penalties like feeding the elders or cleaning up bedding. These were ones that took away a cat's right and make him suffer for their crime. Now he understood what the cats in the prison were feeling, and he wanted to do this for them.

_Not just for them, but for everyone._

"I told you I would face justice, and I will." Then he got to his hind legs and spun the wheel.

As he watched the wheel spin around and around, he heard jeering around him and some cats shout for him to be eaten by a bear, boiled in lava, being spiked by a cage, or getting his head smashed. He could hear Silverheart whisper "Community service. _Please_ stop on community service."

Finally, the wheel stopped. And it stopped on...

"...eaten by a bear!" Zulu sneered. "Now we feed him to the bear!"

As the crowd cheered, Goldwing felt really worried. These cats seemed to despise him and want him dead even more than FireClan hated him. Giving a sigh of misery, he laid down on the dusty ground and let the cheering crowd stalk towards him.

But just then, a lit firebomb got thrown into the crowd. It bounced a few times before exploding and made the cats leap away from the AirClan Avatar Cat, yowling with fear. Goldwing saw that Silverheart and Ashfeather were shielding themselves from the blast. Then all three young Clan cats heard a familiar voice growl to the cats of Laurel Town.

"We've come to claim this town for Darkstar, leader of FireClan!" Goldwing could see Colonel Leopard on his Komodo Dragon and two other riders on the top of the amphitheater. "Now show me your leader so I may depose of him!" he yowled, using his halberd to obliterate the statue of Battlestar.

"Hey! I see him!"

Goldwing saw that Leopard was glaring at Zulu, who now hid behind the Avatar Cat. The gray-&-white tom was squealing, "Please, Avatar Cat! Do something! Save us!"

Glancing at the crowd and back at him, Goldwing retorted calmly, "Well, I'd really love to, but I'm supposed to get eaten by a bear. Remember?"

As fast as he could, the gray-&-white mayor spun the wheel to the community service wedge and squealed, "There! It's now on community service! We're sorry for accusing you! Now PLEASE serve the community and save our town from those dragons!"

Goldwing gave him a smile. He knew this was the good time to save the town that hated him. _And I'll gladly do so._

So he ran forward and leapt into the air, shedding most of Heavyrose's fur color and her kimono except for her headdress and face painting. One rider readied his halberd, and the young AirClan cat ran at the Komodo Dragon. He leaned forth and slid his claws out behind him like a fighting dinosaur. Each claw held one of Heavyrose's fans, which he opened as he ran. He spun aside out of the monitor's way at the last moment and used the fan to claw at the rider to make him fall out of his seat.

He looked back to see the Mayor peeping out over the wheel as a monitor bore down on him. He turned in horror and slid down the back of the wheel. His eyes bugged out as the creature's claws burst through the wheel, one just above each shoulder and one between his hind legs.

Goldwing heard a snarl from behind him and saw Leopard glaring at him. But the glare didn't last long, for he turned to yowl at his gang, "Let's head on down to that shit-heap of a town, Dark Dragons!"

All the Dark Dragons howled with triumph as they and their lizards began setting the town on fire with arrows and blasts of fire from their paws. The shrouded rider ran by a hay wagon and dropped three sticks of dynamite into it. The wagon exploded as another Komodo Dragon rushed by.

One large gray tom yowled as he leapt at Silverheart, his claws unsheathed. She dodged to one side, drew some water from her skin pouch on her neck, and used the water to Bend the attacker against the wall. He was bound and helpless by his own Dragon that fell on top of him. She then whipped the monitor with her water claws and it ran off, roaring in pain.

Ashfeather looked from behind a street corner at the FireClan archer. This cat had two lit arrows and was ready to fire. Getting an idea, Ashfeather used the reflected sunray from his magnifying glass to sidetrack him. The archer turned and fired the arrows and these missed the dark gray cat, but they did take his silly hat on the way toward hitting the side bag attached to the lizard that had just appeared behind him. The side bag contained four sticks of dynamite. Ashfeather got an idea, smirked, and ducked.

The masked brown cat picked up the bag and threw it on the roof of a neighboring house. A moment later, the house disappeared under the deafening explosion. The body of the dead brown cat fell by Ashfeather, who still crouched on the ground. Another bag also rolled toward him, his boomerang hanging out.

"_I-it's you, boomerang_!" he squeaked happily, hugging it. "You DO always come back!"

The archer returned and aimed some more arrows at Ashfeather, who threw his bubble pipe at him. The pipe sailed through the air and engulfed both arrows in its oral cavity, putting out their fires. The archer looked closely at the mechanism in wonder.

Meanwhile, Silverheart faced off against another rider. She used her water whip and Ice Claws to cut the saddle straps. The rider fell off and started getting dragged along the ground by his own lizard. Giggling, Silverheart Bended the water back into her skin pouch.

Finally, Goldwing ran across a crossroads while still wearing Heavyrose's headdress and fans. He stopped in the middle of the crossroads and looked down the street. Colonel Leopard and his Komodo Dragon appeared as the mottled tabby and Goldwing glared at each other. With a few quick movements, Leopard produced a constant flame from both forepaws and began to charge at Goldwing at a gallop.

Goldwing ran at him as well. He jumped off the wall of the alley and propelled himself over the Colonel's head, using the fans and a blast of air to deflect the stream of fire. He dropped down on the other side of the street having turned around in midair. But the jumping cost him the rest of Heavyrose's gear, which fell apart from each other around him. He got back up and made some Air Paws, hopped in, and flew down the street as Leopard charged him again. He went under the Colonel's monitor lizard, avoiding his fire. He in turn avoided Goldwing's blast of air.

The two antagonists again reached opposite ends of the street. They faced each other again, with them glaring at one another to stress the conflict. They ran at each other again. Goldwing leaped into the air as he approached, sailed right through a discharge of fire, and spun around in circles, using the Zetsu Tenrou Battouga to knock Leopard off of his animal. The Colonel landed with a crash as he passed through a wall.

While Leopard snarled with defeat and slunk away with his warriors following him, Goldwing stared after them, panting hard from the Battouga. _We did it. We saved the town._

**...**

Later that night, Goldwing and his friends had already recovered from the fight; Goldwing had a scar on his cheek, Silverheart had a few tufts of fur torn out, and Ashfeather had a scratch on one ear. Despite that, they were now celebrated as heroes as fireworks exploded above and confetti fell around them. Plus, Goldwing had his regular fur color back as he wore those arrow stripes like a badge of pride.

Mayor Zulu approached them while dragging a wagon of three bowls behind him. When he got to them, he proclaimed pompously yet kindly, "From now on, we will celebrate a _new_ Avatar Cat Day. It is in honor of when Avatar Cat Goldwing saved us all from the Dark Dragon Invasion."

The three cats smiled at him with pleasure. As the crowd cheered for them, the warriors saw that they were no longer demanding their blood, but they were now cheering. Zulu took the bowls from the wagon and set them down in front of each cat.

"What's this?" Ashfeather asked him, looking down into his bowl.

Goldwing and Silverheart looked into their bowls. Inside, there seemed to be some haggis in the form of Avatar Cat Goldwing.

"That is our new festival food: bear-made haggis," Zulu purred to them. To the waiting crowd, he yowled, "We shall all eat this haggis and be reminded of the day that the Avatar Cat will _not_ be eaten by a bear!"

But while the crowd cheered some more, the three cats still looked uncertain. They had eaten prey before, but they had never eaten another predator besides snakes and other stuff. As they pawed at the haggis, Silverheart pressed her paws onto hers, which made a squelching sound.

_It looks like someone placed their ass in our bowls and left a surprise in there, _her face seemed to say. But out loud, she mewed feebly, "Well...Happy Avatar Cat Day, everyone!"

"Yeah!" Goldwing mewed in a fake happy tone while Silverheart took a reluctant bite. "Hakuna Matata!" He took a bite out of the bear-made haggis and fought the urge to throw up; it tasted like fox-dung, even though he only smelled it before. He now hated the taste of bear.

"Worst. Town. Ever. MADE," Ashfeather concluded as they ate some more haggis. They would clean their teeth after this and leave to find a new mentor for Goldwing.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**Aang: I remember eating that uncooked cookie dough. That tasted disgusting!**

**Katara: (Playfully) Oh, like the time you hated the stewed sea prunes Bato made?**

**Aang: I wasn't in the mood!**

**AvatarCat12: I'm with you on that one, Aang. I don't think I'd eat sea prunes if my life even depended on it. Who wants to say the review and preview for The Blind Outlaw?**

**Katara: I will. And we'll have a vigil for Firestar after this, not to mention the end of this part of Warrior Cats. (To the readers) Anyone who reviews this chapter will get virtual Firestar plush dolls and chocolate Easter eggs. Flames are not allowed on here; they'll be used for S'Mores making instead. We allow constructive criticism and advice, but as long as it's not harsh.**

**Preview: Goldwing and his pack attend an EarthBending battle contest, where Goldwing finally finds his new mentor. However, this cat has no interest in training him in the arts of EarthBending. Will he try something to get his new mentor to train him?**

**See ya next time! And Long Live Warrior Cats!**


	7. The Blind Outlaw

**AvatarCat12: Two more days until Legend of Korra comes out! You all excited?**

**Aang: You bet I am! I can't wait to see my next life in Republic City!**

**Katara: Not only that, but we get to see our son and his family! And I can't believe we'll name our other kids after my mom and Bumi! How amazing is that?**

**AvatarCat12: Very amazing. And I think I may order a pizza or two to celebrate the new series coming out. First, let's go on with the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I will never own Avatar: The Last AirBender or Warrior Cats, and I don't even want to. Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter own them.**

**Summary: Goldwing and his pack attend an EarthBending battle contest, where Goldwing finally finds his new mentor. However, this cat has no interest in training him in the arts of EarthBending. Will he try something to get his new mentor to train him?**

**Uploading Date: April 12, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**The Blind Outlaw**_

It was some time after the fiasco at Laurel Town before they went on to a small town. Goldwing felt that his quest for a new mentor was impossible since they were making a lot of pit stops. But he knew that he himself wanted to make pit stops, so he knew better than to complain.

Ashfeather was bragging that he would get a new bag better than his old blue one. Despite saying that, he was going to keep the old one for safe keeping. Now the two others were watching him as he started shopping in an open air shop, looking at a green bag with a shoulder strap. And Silverheart, with Tobias on her shoulder, looked at him with some concern.

Goldwing was sitting on the floor, looking bored. He wanted to find an EarthBending mentor so badly that it made his brain ache from all the walking they did.

"It may look classy, but I like it!" Ashfeather meowed.

"Then how about you get it?" Silverheart asked. "You deserve something nice."

Her dark gray littermate turned to face her as he smiled at her. "I do, right?" Then he turned back around with an exaggerated gesture and meowed, "No way. It's too expensive. I don't think I can buy that."

Silverheart rolled her sapphire eyes and muttered, "Then _don't_ buy it." Then she padded out of the shop with Goldwing behind her, who sighed with relief.

Ashfeather began to pad after them, but then Goldwing turned to see him gaze thoughtfully back at the green bag. Then he watched his WaterClan friend returns and stood behind the bag, his tail lashing happily in the air. Goldwing held back a purr of amusement; he knew that Ashfeather couldn't resist such a bag like that.

"Aw, what the hell? I'm gettin' this!" the dark gray tabby warrior decided.

Goldwing and Silverheart exchanged half-annoyed and half amused looks with one another. Just like with prey, Ashfeather would turn it down only to go back for some more. But they knew that he could carry something useful in his new green bag, like scrolls or books or stuff like that.

As the two warrior cats stood while watching him, they heard a voice call out, "Psst! Over here!"

Goldwing and Silverheart turned to see a rogue white tom come near with a paper in his jaws as he turned to spoke to them. They were interested, so they padded to him and sat down, ready to hear what he had to say.

"You like EarthBending? You like throwing rocks?" he asked. When they shrugged, he went on, "Then check out Master Yu's EarthBending Arts School!"

He gave the paper to Goldwing and let it fall onto his front paws before leaving.

When the white cat was gone, Goldwing pushed it out on the ground and observed the front of the leaflet. When he was done, he flipped the brochure around to observe the back of this paper. Behind him, Silverheart peered over his shoulder to also look at the brochure; Goldwing had just remembered that he was around the same height as she, but he was still shorter than Ashfeather.

"There's a coupon on the back," Goldwing informed her. "And the first lesson's free!"

"Well, who knows?" Silverheart replied. "Maybe this teacher is that cat you're looking for?"

As Ashfeather padded to the two other cats and looked over at the brochure, his new green bag strapped over his broad shoulders, Goldwing was in high spirits. Maybe this cat would be the one to teach him, and his search would be over. The pale ginger tom felt that he had only one more element to go, but he recalled the accident when he burned Silverheart.

_But we'll be able to get an EarthBending mentor!_

**...**

Goldwing and his friends had arrived at the front gate of a dojo academy. The gate was a paifang with a large green sign with Chinese characters written across it. When Goldwing had asked for a mentor, he was accepted into the amateur training where other cats would train alongside him.

Now the young AirClan warrior was in a dark green EarthBending training uniform and a round helmet, feeling confused. To pass the time, he reached around behind him to lick himself so that he could get cleaned up. He looked out from the end of a line of young tomcats of which he was a member. The cats were younger and smaller than he by a head since they could be apprentices. They stood determined, looking forward.

To prove he could do this, Goldwing sat up straight in imitation of them. On the left was a line of four toms with a rock in front of them. On the right was a line of four toms, including Goldwing without any stones. A gray tabby tom, Master Yu, entered the arena without looking at them at first. Then he uttered three words:

"Take your stances."

The apprentices except Goldwing assumed their EarthBending stances. Master Yu padded in the middle of the two lines, and then he turned around to face his pupils.

"Now...strike as if you're capturing prey!"

Master Yu struck a pose as he said this, then Goldwing tried to focus when he saw Yu and the two lines facing each other. The line on the lifted their rocks and threw them at the other line on the right, the line without the rocks.

Goldwing was alarmed, and in a split second, the cat across from Goldwing shoved the rock at him. The rock hit Goldwing in the chest and knocked him backwards into a large earthenware pot behind him. The pot exploded in a cloud of dust and fragments while Goldwing fell, spitting out a bloody tooth.

Master Yu padded forward to him, smiling as he told him, "Would you like to go through some more lessons? I could get you up to the next level if you pay for the whole year in advance."

The young Avatar Cat didn't say anything as he spat another tooth out, but there really wasn't anything else for him to say. But he did know this: this wasn't the mentor he was looking for. Rockstar told him to look for a cat that waited and listened before striking. That was why he surrendered without putting up a fight.

Shaking his head, he tried to pull himself out of the rubble, but his face got covered as more debris slid down over him.

**...**

As got out of the rubble pile, he ran ahead of the others out of the academy and out of its gates. Silverheart and Ashfeather were waiting outside of the gates, having already eaten their fresh-kill. And right when he got to them, they quickly sat up since they wanted to hear if he found his EarthBending mentor.

He shook his head and mewed regretfully, "Sorry, but he's not the one."

Goldwing tipped his head over and patted one side of his head with one paw, ejecting bits of dirt from his ear. After that, Silverheart gave him a vole to eat and he crouched down, eating as if he hadn't eaten in moons. Trying to learn how to EarthBend seemed to make him hungrier than ever before.

While the rest of the class padded away, the last two cats exited the paifang gate and their chat was heard by the three Clan warriors. They swiveled their ears around so that they could hear what these cats had to say.

One of them, a brown tabby-&-white tom, meowed to his friend, " I got a feeling the Boulder will get the heavyweight championship belt back in Earth Rumble Six tonight."

"Tell me about it," his friend, a dark gray tabby with yellow eyes, mewed. As Goldwing listened, what that cat said made him gasp in surprise: "That cat will have to fight through the best damn fighters to even get a shot at the championship."

Now what the two toms meowed made Goldwing certain that there could be a mentor for him. And he hoped these cats would say to him wouldn't sound rude or he would have to ask someone else for directions. Feeling hopeful, he padded in an alert manner to them with his friends getting up and following him.

When Goldwing approached the two tomcats, they gave him some hard stares as he padded more cautiously than before. He knew that these cats would try to give him trouble, but he figured they could at least give him some directions.

"Excuse me," he meowed as he caught up with them. "But where is this tournament?"

The two toms exchanged smirks before the dark gray tabby sneered, "Well, it's on the island of Noneofyour. None of your business!" At that, they cuffed him hard over the head and stalked away, laughing at him.

Goldwing lowered his head, feeling quite bad at being picked on by the two toms. But what was worse was that they wouldn't tell him where the Earth Rumble Six game was at. Behind him, Ashfeather was laughing hard as he and his sister padded up behind Goldwing, but not his sister. Instead, Silverheart looked irritated at the toms' ill treatment towards the Avatar Cat.

Ashfeather laughed as he caught up with them, "Great StarClan! I'm gonna have to remember that one!"

Silverheart growled at her littermate to be quiet and stop laughing, and that was what he did. Goldwing was happy that the silver WaterClan she-cat was there to help him in this time. Feeling like he was with his own mother once again, he leaned against her and rubbed his head with hers. The silver she-cat gave him a reassuring smile as she allowed him to rub against her long gray coat.

"Don't worry. I'll handle this," she mewed as she licked him on the ears. Then, while they padded down the street at a right turn into a side street where the two toms disappeared into, she waved her tail around and called in an attractive voice, "Hey, strong hunks! Wait! I wanna talk to you!"

At that, she padded around the corner and disappeared out of sight. Goldwing hoped she could survive two tomcats at once, even though he knew that she could take care of herself. Silverheart was a smart and tough cat; she could think of something.

Meanwhile, Ashfeather studied his new green bag with contempt. "You know what? Screw this new bag! Goldwing, why'd you let me buy this damn bag?"

He threw it to the ground and sat on top of it, growling at it. Goldwing rolled his eyes at his friend, and at that moment, Tobias looked down at the bag. The red-tailed hawk jumped down from the dark gray tabby's shoulder to the bag, where he made him get off so that he could get some sleep.

Also at that moment, Silverheart had come back from the alley, purring with satisfaction. The golden AirClan cat observed her silver fur for any injuries, but there was none. However, he saw some fur and a few drops of blood stuck between her claws.

"All taken care of! So Goldwing, you ready to find an EarthBending mentor?" she asked him as she got nearer. "We're gonna see the superstars of Earth Rumble Six!"

With amazement and joy, Goldwing asked her, "H-how'd you do that? How'd you get them to tell you?"

The WaterClan warrior's dark blue eyes sparkled with mischief as she looked over her shoulder. "Oh, I have my ways."

And when the two other cats came to see what Silverheart had done, they were quite surprised. The two cats had been frozen down to their necks and their hind paws were frozen to the walls of the buildings that lined each side of the street. Their heads touched each other and together they formed a gate or archway over the street.

Goldwing saw clumps of fur missing from their fur yet he saw no blood; this maybe meant that Silverheart wrenched her claws a little. But she could heal them up, and they could go on ahead to the Earth Rumble tournament.

As Goldwing followed his friends, he thought, _I can't wait!_

**...**

That night, the three Clan warriors arrived at the foot of a large mountain, where a large number of cats were gathering at. When they got near, they saw the brightly lit entrance to a cave. Many more cats were lined up to enter. When they paid, they padded to an underground stadium with a wide shot of the rectangular EarthBending arena.

The center of the arena was dominated by a large stone circle with a square punched out of its center. In the background on the lift was a tower atop which the master of the games announced the matches. Around the rest of the arena were the stands. There was an empty space all around the arena between it and the stands.

Goldwing knew that Twolegs had been able to wrestle with one another for sport, and Clan cats had rarely wrestled one another for entertainment until after the four new Clans had arrived. This was a good chance not only to see enjoyable wrestling, but he could also watch out for a mentor that could teach him to EarthBend.

The stands at the front were empty in the immediate surrounding area as the three warriors entered from the left.

"Front row seats!" Goldwing purred. After he looked around, he asked his friends, "Why isn't anyone sitting there?"

But once the cats sat down, a massive boulder slammed into the seats to their right and showered them with dust and rubble. Goldwing flinched at the impact of the boulder; that could have been him and his friends that would be squashed.

Ashfeather sat back down as he mewed, "I suppose that's why."

They turned their attention back to the stadium, where a big black-&-gray tomcat EarthBended a powerful explosion of rock and dirt at its center. A huge column of earth began to raise the tom upwards and stopped rising as the tom flicked his tail around, making the column collapse back to its floor level. When Goldwing squinted, he saw that this cat had a harsh-looking face with scars across his face and a torn-out yellow eye.

"Welcome to Earth Rumble Six!" he bellowed. "I am your host, Badgerclaw!"

All around the arena, the cats were gazing down at him with interest, for they couldn't wait for the fight to begin. Goldwing, Ashfeather, and Tobias also looked down into the arena with interest. Silverheart, however, turned away to the left and adopted an indifferent pose.

She looked at them as she grumbled, "Is this just about cats throwing rocks at each other?"

"Hope so," her littermate replied. "It's what I paid for."

Meanwhile, Badgerclaw still yowled, "The rules are simple. Fight each other like you mean it, knock the cat or animal out of the arena, and you win!"

He EarthBended himself back to the announcer's tower and continued in voice over. As if on cue, a large brown tabby tom (with a mammoth tattoo on his back and one black paw) padded forward into the stadium. He raised his tail in a salutation to the crowd and grinned confidently. Silverheart just rolled her eyes at that; Goldwing wished she could be more interested, for she was the reason they were here now.

"Round one! It's The Boulder versus...the Big Bad Warthog!" Badgerclaw yowled as another creature stepped forward.

Despite his name, the Warthog wasn't really a warthog; this was just a huge wild boar with weird red bristles with a black mane running down its neck. The Warthog reared his head up and let out a loud pig-like squeal to the cheering crowd. Goldwing was amazed; he thought only cats were going to fight.

"Listen up, Warthog!" the Boulder yowled as he stalked around his opponent. "You may be a big dude, but you ain't bad! The Boulder's gonna finish this in a landslide!"

The Warthog replied by shaking his head angrily and snorting, "Warthog mad as Hell!" And the fight began.

The Boulder leapt forward, his front paw coated with earth, as he swiped his claws at the coarse-coated pig's hide. The Warthog grabbed his paw in his jaws and tossed him back before charging at him and knocking him to the ground. As the Boulder got up, the Warthog began jumping up and down. His enormous bulk actually caused the arena to shake around, making the cats yowl in wonder. The Boulder trembled backwards on the threshold of losing his balance.

"This is incredible!" Badgerclaw called. "The Warthog is rocking the Boulder!"

As The Boulder reached the edge of the arena, he EarthBended a sheet of rock out of the side of the arena and threw it at his opponent. It hit the Warthog's back, and he turned around to face the Boulder once more. The Boulder, with a tremendous effort, rammed into his side and sunk his claws into the wild boar's coarse pelt and began slashing away.

Then finally, with more effort, he EarthBended the Warthog off the floor and threw him over the side of the arena. The Warthog weakly got up, his red fur stained with a darker red as a thin strip of blood ran from his shoulder, as he limped away.

"The Boulder wins this round!"

As the crowd began to cheer for the Boulder, Goldwing began to feel that this cat wasn't going to be his mentor. The Boulder seemed to depend on fighting in the open more than waiting.

Silverheart looked at him questioningly and asked, "Hey, can the Boulder be your mentor? He's got these awesome moves!"

Cautiously, he answered, "I don't think so, Silverheart. Rockstar told me that I need to rely on a mentor that listens to the earth. But this cat listens to his muscles more than the earth. What do you think, Ashfeather?"

"Woo-hoo!" Ashfeather cheered for The Boulder. Goldwing and Silverheart exchanged smirks.

"The second round will be The Boulder versus...The FireClan Cat!" Badgerclaw called.

Goldwing and his friends looked down to see that there was a fat ginger tomcat waving his flag in his jaws, smiling. Goldwing studied him more carefully; this cat couldn't be from FireClan since EarthClan feared FireClan right now. But maybe that cat was pretending to be from that Clan so that he could get popular in wrestling.

And the moment FireClan Cat came out into the arena, he wasn't going to get popularity. That was because the crowd booed loudly as FireClan Cat padded across a stone bridge to the arena floor, waving his flag. The bridge crumbled behind him, making Ashfeather boo at him loudly while Tobias hid right behind him.

Now FireClan Cat arrived at the middle of the arena as he called, "Please rise for the singing of the FireClan national hymn." Then he raised his head to the air as he sung very loudly...and very badly:

"_OH, FIRECLAN!_

_MY HEART BURNS FOR THEE!"_

But instead of singing along, the crowd began to throw rocks and sticks at him while booing at him.

"Go back to FireClan, bastard!" Ashfeather yowled while throwing a stick at FireClan Cat, who got hit on the head.

The fat ginger tom turned to glare at him, but his anger was disturbed as he was twisted violently around and sunk into the earthen floor of the arena. In a flash, he was buried up to his shoulders in the arena floor. He stared ahead at The Boulder, who was raising himself up on a huge column of earth.

"No, please! Have mercy!" FireClan Cat sniveled.

But the large brown tabby tom just grinned down at him and leapt off. He sailed down with his hind legs bent at the knees so he could hold his hind paws with his front ones. Then the Boulder hit the ground in front of FireClan Cat, who was hurled high into the air and out of the arena on impact.

The fat ginger tom was screeching as he was being flown at the audience...and those cats he was sailing at were Goldwing and his friends. Quickly, Goldwing saw that he just hit the area where the rock hit the stands earlier. Then FireClan Cat slumped down and began whimpering about his hurt back.

Ashfeather got up close to his face and made insane taunting waves, jeering, "Whoo yeah! That Boulder knows how to put the hurt in dirt! Yeah! Woo-hoo!"

A sweeping motion made Goldwing look back at the arena to see a woolly mammoth sweeping dirt away with its tusks and trunk, followed by a white she-cat carrying a poster to display for everyone. Goldwing recalled being trapped in the Secret Tunnels with Silverheart, and they had learned of mammoths being the first EarthBenders ever. He wondered how they managed to even catch one.

_I never knew mammoths could be used like that! As long as it's being treated right, it's okay._

Several matches passed by in hurried succession, so much that Goldwing had to observe about everything. The Boulder had defeated every contestant he faced. The first was a ground beaver that tunneled under the ground and burst out in quick attacks. The next was a fossa in a green mask and a fierce frozen snarl. And the third was an Indian Cobra with a painted face.

At long last, when Goldwing felt tired, the cobra was tossed out quickly with the Boulder not being poisoned. Goldwing supposed that the cobra had been milked for his poison before he could fight. When this was over, Badgerclaw made his next announcement.

"Here's the moment you've all waited for! It's the Boulder versus...THE BLIND OUTLAW!"

The three Clan warriors looked down to see that the next opponent was...small. This was a small black she-cat with milky greenish-white eyes. She had a green cape around her neck and she had a black-&-green headband on her forehead. She was holding the championship belt in her jaws for all to see. This cat actually looked like she could lose her championship as quick as a cat could steal a bird's egg.

While the Blind Apprentice removed her cape and prowled around the arena, the crowd began to cheer more loudly for her than they did for The Boulder. Goldwing and his friends stared down at her with different expressions.

"But...she can't be really blind! Can she?" Silverheart mewed, turning to Goldwing. "Is it just her character or is she pretending?"

Goldwing studied her green eyes very carefully and saw them staring at nothing, looking as pale as pale water. He knew that Jayfeather, one of the Three (three cats that rivaled their powers with the Avatar Cat), was blind, but that never stopped him. Besides, he was one of the cats that had helped StarClan win their ultimate battle against the Dark Forest.

_As for this cat..._

"Silverheart, I think...she really IS blind," he told his friend.

"Well, _I_ think she's _GOIN' DOWN!_" Ashfeather howled, leaping up and down.

Meanwhile, the two cats in the arena circled one another; one large and brown, the other small and black. Goldwing had no idea how the Blind Apprentice would win this if she was blind.

The Boulder was now yowling, "The Boulder feels troubled about fighting a small blind kit!"

"Sounds like you're scared!" the Outlaw sneered in a mocking tone.

There was a few seconds while the Boulder stared at her in a shocked way. Then he shook his pelt fiercely as he snarled, "The Boulder is through with his conflicted feelings! Now he's gonna bury you...in a ROCKALANCHE!" He finished this by scraping the ground hard with his front claws.

The Outlaw rolled her eyes before calling back, "Whatever you say...The Nugget!" And then she threw back her head and began laughing.

But while she laughed like that, Goldwing felt like he was going back through time. The Avatar Cat remembered seeing a small black cat in the mangrove swamp where the Swamp Tribe cats lived at. That same cat had a Pegasus with her and her laugh was just like the Blind Apprentice's laughing. Then he managed to see the closeness of her eyes in his vision, and then...

_It's that same she-cat in the swamp! What the hell is she doing here?_

The Boulder let out another battle yowl before prowling around and showing off his big muscles to intimidate his foe. But the Blind Apprentice wasn't fazed by this as she continued to circle her opponent, and she looked very confident indeed. Despite looking brave, the large brown tabby tom did look a little nervous.

The Boulder let out a battle cry and took a step forward. As his left forepaw hit the ground, the small black she-cat's fur began to bristle as if she was cowering. But she didn't look scared at all; instead, she looked like she was concentrating. She crouched low to the ground and swiveled her ears forward, listening to where the paw hit the ground.

Suddenly, she moved forward and raised her tail as soon as she registered the tremor indicating the movement of her foe. She moved forward to finish the set up for her attack while the Boulder moved forward at a slow rate, still bellowing a battle cry. As his foot struck the ground again, the Outlaw's fur began to bristle once again as if sensing her opponent's move.

Then, the Blind Outlaw began to swing her tail in an arc towards the ground in front of her and she rose onto her hind legs. As she struck the ground, her strike created a shock wave in the floor that shook up the ground and headed toward the Boulder in a straight streak. It was as if a gopher were tunneling toward him at great speed.

Goldwing watched, amazed, as he turned his head slightly around to watch the Outlaw's attack head for The Boulder. He had no idea that a cat three moons younger than he could use an attack like that.

Now the Boulder's front paw met the shock wave when he put it back down. The wave made him drop down onto the ground in a perfect front split. Ashfeather's crazed excited look changed to one of pain while Tobias churred nervously.

"OOOOHHHH!" the Boulder squealed in pain as he made the split.

The Apprentice swirled her tail around in a rope-like movement; as soon as she began making the movements, three stalagmites erupted from the ground near The Boulder and throw him out from the ring. He slammed into the wall beneath the stands and slid down into the crack between the arena and the stands.

As the Blind Outlaw's serious face softened to a sneaky and pleased grin, Badgerclaw yowled to the crowd, "Here is your winner, and STILL the Earth Rumble champion, the Blind Outlaw!"

The Blind Apprentice purred as she waved her tail to the audience, her short black fur shining with victory. Ashfeather began wailing loudly about how a large tomcat got defeated by a small she-cat. Goldwing, remembering when he was sexist when he first met him, attempted to settle him down, but he shrugged him away.

But Silverheart had a different reaction: surprise. "How in StarClan's name did she do that?"

Goldwing smiled at her. "She waited...and listened before striking!"

Now the young AirClan cat knew that this was the perfect mentor Rockstar told him about. One who could wait and listen before they struck. Now Goldwing understood the situation, and things couldn't get better, but there was something he had to do to test her out.

Finally, Badgerclaw leapt down front the announcer tower and landed with a thud in the center of the arena. In his jaws, he held a dark green bag that was making some crinkling noises inside. Goldwing suspected that it was money, for Ashfeather was eying the bag with interest.

"Let's make this interesting!" the large black-&-gray tom announced. "Whoever defeats the Blind Outlaw in one more battle will win this bag of gold I'm offering!" When no one stepped forward, he called, "What? Does no one _dare_ to try?"

"I'll try."

Goldwing found himself leaping down from his seat and into the arena, where he came face-to-face with the Blind Outlaw herself. She did look younger than he, only around a head shorter, and she looked shorter than Silverheart. Around him, he expected boos from the crowd, but he was met by murmurs of agreement.

This was it. The time to test his new mentor.

"Go, Goldwing!" Ashfeather roared to him. "Avenge the Boulder! Kick her ass!"

As Goldwing and the Blind Outlaw circled one another in the arena, the small black cat sneered, "Aw, come on! Do we really need an extra bitch in this arena?"

The crowd went "Oooooh" at that, but Goldwing shrugged it off without feeling bad. Besides, he told himself, he was a talker and not quite a fighter. So he padded to her and held up his tail in a way of trying to keep peace in this fight. He didn't want to take any chances of offending her.

"Look. I don't wanna fight you. I want to talk to you."

Ashfeather called, "Boo! No talking!"

"Don't boo him!" Silverheart hissed, cuffing her brother on the ear.

Goldwing nodded and began to prowl forward just as the Outlaw, smiling like a fox, also padded towards him. Then the black cat stomped the ground with the side of her left hind paw. A shock wave traveled across the ground and caused a large rock to grow out of the ground underneath Goldwing, who was launched into the air.

He landed softly on the ground behind her as she turned around with a displeased look on her face. He could tell that she was trying to look for him.

"So you're light on your paws, huh?" she hissed, looking around. "So what's your nickname...the Tiny Paws?"

Goldwing smirked at that and shrugged his shoulders. Another rock erupted from the ground and launched Goldwing into the air again. He somersaulted through the air and landed beside her, rushing towards her as fast as he could. But as he rushed forward, she looked over her shoulder, sneered, and began digging into the ground.

"How deep do you want it? How wide?" she spat, digging harder. Seeing the confused look on his face and the laughter of the defeated animals, the black she-cat added, "I'm digging you a grave!" Then she threw several more rocks at him, one even knocking him off of his paws for a while.

"Don't make fun of a real fight!" Goldwing howled, racing towards her.

She turned quickly, raised a boulder, and threw at him in a straight line as swift as a cheetah. The crowd cheered, but as the rock approached him, he leapt into the air, turned about, and Bended the rock back. She and the rock were finally blown backward and off the arena. The fighters, the WaterClan littermates, Badgerclaw, and even Goldwing himself were amazed at this amazing achievement. The Avatar Cat had defeated the Blind Outlaw.

But when the Blind Outlaw raised herself off the ground, she snarled up at him while her cheek kept bleeding. The black she-cat snarled angrily before limping away from the stairs of the arena, leaving Goldwing to shout after the former champion from on top of those stairs. He didn't want to defeat her; he just wanted to talk.

"Wait!" he called after her. "I fought you because I need an EarthBending mentor! And I think the new mentor is you!"

But she snarled over her shoulder, "Whoever you are, jerk, shut the hell up and leave me alone! I don't give a shit!"

She opened a door in the wall with a swipe of her front claws, raking them around harshly as if she was cutting Goldwing's throat out right now. She entered the door, turned around, and closed it with a motion of her tail. Goldwing leaped down from the arena and ran towards the door, but it was too late; besides, he couldn't EarthBend right away, but he felt really bad.

As Silverheart and Ashfeather waited until Goldwing returned to the arena, they padded up to him and sat beside Badgerclaw, who was holding the belt and the bag of money in his jaws. Then Ashfeather hugged Badgerclaw, took the money and belt, and held up Goldwing's forepaw with his forepaw; despite that, the AirClan cat still felt bad.

"Good job, champ!" the dark gray tabby howled happily. "You sure showed her!"

That didn't cheer Goldwing up at all; instead, he felt that he screwed things up.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

As Goldwing and his pack moved away from the mountain and back into town, Goldwing still felt bad at losing his chance for EarthBending. He had been hoping that the Blind Outlaw could teach him EarthBending...but he seemed to have messed it up. He silently cursed himself for not being gentle enough during the fight.

"You know what?" Ashfeather meowed while they padded down the street; he was wearing the champion belt around his neck. "Now I'm happy I got this bag! It matches the belt really well!"

Ever since the battle had ended, the dark gray tabby tom had been talking about nothing else but winning the belt that Goldwing got. The Avatar Cat himself and Silverheart exchanged glances with one another before they let him catch up with them. They were now going to search for the Blind Apprentice to ask her if she could help them, even though she might say no.

Silverheart rolled her eyes and muttered sarcastically, "Well, _that's_ a relief."

"Well, if we want to find the Blind Outlaw, then we go back to the EarthBending School. It's a good place to start," Goldwing told his friends, getting them back into focus.

The three cats padded on and searched until they found the gates of the EarthBending School once again. Then Goldwing noticed the two young cats that Silverheart froze and beat up to get directions to the Earth Rumble fight. The brown and dark gray toms were clawing at some dirt in some pots and didn't look up until the three Clan warriors padded up to them.

But as soon as Goldwing padded towards them, the two toms looked up at him and gave him a hostile stare. The golden AirClan warrior knew that they were going to pick on him again, and he was prepared for it.

"Oh great. Not you again," the brown tabby spat as he and his cohort stalked toward him, their claws unsheathed.

But suddenly, the two cats backed away with fright in their eyes as Goldwing heard a snarl from behind him. And he saw why: Silverheart had stalked forward and made a mock charge at them, making them think she was going to attack them. Goldwing admired her determination to protect cats younger than herself. That was one of the reasons he loved her.

_She's really great at this._

As the two toms recoiled, Silverheart snorted, "Yeah. Didn't think so."

Ashfeather padded up to her and nudged her shoulder, murmuring something to her. Goldwing was happy that the dark gray tabby cared a lot about his sister. But he didn't want to remember the time Ashfeather attacked Goldwing for unintentionally hurting his younger sister.

"Hold on!" The dark gray tabby cat with the orange eyes padded up to Goldwing and studied him closely. "You're that cat who defeated the Blind Outlaw!"

"Yes, but we need to speak to her." Goldwing began waving his long tail around to Silverheart, showing her the sign that now wasn't the time to assault them. When the silver she-cat relaxed, he asked the two toms, "Hey, do you two know where she lives? Any bit of advice will do."

The brown tabby tom looked rather frightened as he answered, "Well...I know that the Blind Outlaw is a mystery. She shows up for a fight, but she disappears as soon as she battles."

Feeling that this wasn't good enough, Goldwing gave a sigh and looked down; even though they were now trying to help, it seemed that they were giving him poor advice. Silverheart seemed to realize this because she padded to him and pressed her nose to his shoulder, comforting him. He knew he could rely on her, but he wasn't really a wimp; he just chose not to fight...unless he had to.

"Let me handle this," Silverheart murmured softly to Goldwing. When he nodded, she turned back to the two toms and let the kind look on her face drop until she looked very stern. "You're not telling us everything, you asses!" she barked at them. "Now tell us! Or do you need to be taught another lesson?"

"It's true!" the dark gray tabby tom wailed as he lowered himself to the ground, his tail tucked under his belly. "I swear it's true! No one really knows where she goes! Or...who she really is."

Goldwing held up his tail for silence while he tried to retain information about the vision he saw in the swamp. He remembered seeing the Blind Outlaw in a white robe, and he remembered the Pegasus horse with her. That horse would normally be in ancient Twoleg myths, and it would help anyone in need to complete a quest. He was almost lost in thought until Ashfeather padded over to him and shook him awake, making him get back into focus.

"We're asking about the wrong cat," he finally mewed out loud, making his friends stare at him. To the two young toms, he told them, "In a vision I had earlier, I saw a black she-cat in a white robe with a pet flying horse. Do you know anyone like that?"

"Well," the dark gray tabby mewed as his friend hid behind him, "a flying horse is the symbol of the Bei Fong family. That family's a group of the richest kittypets in town...or maybe the whole world! Kittypets are now rare in the world since the four Ancient Clans and Twolegs died out."

The dark gray tabby nodded and added, "But they don't have a daughter."

Goldwing was satisfied that they got enough information out of these two cats for the moment. What they needed to do was to observe this Bei Fong family and see if the Blind Outlaw would come and challenge him to a fight.

Giving the two cats a nod, the Avatar Cat mewed, "A flying horse is good enough for me. Come on," he added to his friends as he padded away. "Let's go check it out."

He walked away and didn't reach the gate when he heard a voice hiss, "Yeah, you better leave."

He looked around to see that the two tomcats were glaring after him with hostility once again in their eyes. Goldwing gave a small sigh inside; it seemed that they wouldn't get along after this was over. But a growl from Silverheart made them drop their gaze and look away quickly.

"Don't think this is over, shitheads," the silver she-cat spat at them. "I'll be keeping an eye on you from now on."

As she padded away after Goldwing, Ashfeather lagged behind to add one more word with a smile: "WaterClan!"

**...**

Two cats were standing at the opening of a tunnel. They were framed by the dim light coming in from outside the cave, though it did not look like sunlight. They were standing at the entrance into the arena. Those two cats were the brown tabby Boulder and the black-&-gray Badgerclaw.

"I'm tellin' you again! The Boulder was standing right at this spot!" The Boulder meowed as he explained to the pacing Badgerclaw. "I saw the youngster attack, but I saw no EarthBending! Nothing made contact! The Blind Outlaw just fell out of the ring! She must've been taking a dive and split the money with the kid!"

Immediately, Badgerclaw slid his claws out and slashed at the wall of the exit, tearing out chunks of earth. Rocks fell down onto his paws, which made him yowl in pain. But then he recovered, but his expression was still angry. He uttered four words that laced with anger and hate:

"No one cheats me!"

**...**

Goldwing watched the scenery form his hideout in the willow tree. The place in front of him was a gorgeous walled country manor with a lovely garden and many ponds. It was still daytime, and several sheep were grazing near the manor. Goldwing leapt down to join his friends, who were looking up at the gate with a crest with a flying Pegasus inscribed on it.

_This is the place, _he thought. _We can't goof up now._

"It's the Pegasus horse from my vision," he told them. "Now let's go." The three Clan warriors backed away from their vantage point, and then they found a way to get inside the compound.

Goldwing leapt up in the air and Bended himself over the wall while Ashfeather and Silverheart climbed over. They ran across some open grass, ignoring the sheep bleating at them until they hid behind a large bush. Goldwing poked his head out below, then Silverheart's head appeared over his, and then Ashfeather's head was on top.

Each appeared in rapid succession one after the other in a very giraffe like way...if they were giraffes.

Suddenly, a huge surge of earth threw all three Clan cats into the air. They yowled with surprise as they fell and landed quite abruptly. Ashfeather fell onto the dusty ground while Goldwing and Silverheart fell into nearby bushes. Goldwing looked up to see the Blind Outlaw glaring down at him in her white robe, her pale green eyes flashing.

_Those two cats lied to us! They DO have a daughter!_

"What the hell are you doing in my territory, Twinkletoes?" she spat down at him.

Goldwing was amazed at how she knew he and his friends were there. The only other cat who knew about his settings without seeing them was Jayfeather, an ancient ThunderClan medicine cat and a member of the Three.

He looked up at her and mewed, "How'd you know it was me?"

"Don't answer to Twinkletoes!" Ashfeather whined, heaving himself to his paws. "It's not cool!"

Silverheart pulled herself out of the bushes and retorted, "Well, you're the one whose green bag matches his green title belt."

Goldwing saw the Blind Outlaw's pale eyes flash with anger at the thought of losing the belt to the Avatar Cat. But she growled instead, "How'd you find me here, wildcats?"

As he pulled himself out, Goldwing licked his pelt for any scratches the thorns made. Licking the small stripes of blood away, he told her, "To tell you the truth, a crazy old elder cat told me to find an EarthBending mentor who can listen to the earth. I had a vision about a cat like that in a magic mangrove swamp and..."

However, he didn't know what else to say, for he was baffling even himself. Silverheart stepped in and finished for him, "What my friend is trying to say is that he's the Avatar Cat. If he doesn't learn EarthBending soon, he can't defeat Darkstar; that's the leader of FireClan."

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Blind Outlaw wasn't going to give in and join them. The small black cat turned away from her and lifted her tail up, making Silverheart look relatively stunned.

"Well, it doesn't concern me," she snapped. "Now you little bitches better get out of my territory before I call the guards."

"Just listen," Ashfeather put in, padding forward and placing himself in her path. "We all have to do our own part in this war. And your part is to teach Goldwing EarthBending. But you'd have to be an apprentice and learn the ways of the Warrior Code."

It seemed Ashfeather knew really well how to speak, and Goldwing was sure she would listen to this piece of info. What Ashfeather said was true: without a role to play, a cat really didn't have an exciting life.

But instead, she turned away and wailed in a distressed voice, "Guards, help me! Wildcats are attacking me!"

Giving a hiss and a swear, Goldwing kinked his tail for his friends to follow him. He leapt away from the Blind Outlaw and started climbing up a willow tree and out of the garden. Despite not being good climbers, Silverheart and Ashfeather quickly followed him up the tree and out of the way.

When he looked back over his shoulder, he saw that two guards arrived as soon as the three Clan cats left. The Blind Outlaw licked her paw and swiped it over her ear as they came up to her.

"What happened, Lin?" one cat asked her.

"I...I was attacked by some wildcats," she replied. "I got scared, so I called for help."

The two guards embraced her and padded away with her. As they left, Goldwing heard the other guard meow, "Lin, your father doesn't want you wandering the grounds without supervision."

Goldwing leaped on top of the wall or a nearby roof and watched the guards escort Lin away from the grounds. Despite now knowing her real name, the AirClan cat felt quite annoyed and flicked his tail quickly on the roof. Then his face broke into a cunning smile, for he got a very good idea.

Knowing what he was up to, Silverheart and Ashfeather gathered around him and the three cats began discussing their plan.

**...**

Lin could hear a teapot being picked up by a pair of jaws. The front toes had two gold rings on them; even though she was blind, she had a secret that let her sense her way around the area.

She heard sniffing as her brown-pelted father (even though she couldn't tell what "brown was) opened the teapot and took a deep breath. He lapped up a few sips of tea before speaking. "I'm happy to hear that Lin's private lessons are going well. But it is up to you to make sure that she doesn't do anything dangerous."

"Of course not, Chao," Master Yu's voice meowed. "I will still keep her at the beginner's level. We're doing only basic forms and breathing exercising."

"Good, good."

Lin let out a growl as she turned away from her parents and unsheathed her claws, scraping them on the floor. Her parents had been treating her like a deaf rabbit ever since she was born, but she didn't want that. She wanted to be free and live her own life; she was certainly of that age. But the thought of asking her parents was too unbearable, so she kept that thought to herself.

"Excuse me, sir, but you have a visitor," a servant was telling her father.

Chao's voice was growling, "Who on earth thinks they're so important that they can come here to my territory uninvited?"

"The...Avatar Cat, sir."

Lin raised her head slightly at the mention of the Avatar Cat. But instead of feeling happy, she felt worse and angry; the black she-cat didn't want him on her territory and try to talk with her. She blew a loose strand of head fur away from her face, looking and feeling annoyed about this.

**...**

_Our plan worked, _Goldwing though happily as he and his friends were sitting at the dining table. After they introduced themselves to Lin's parents, they were brought to the dining room. The Avatar Cat had rehearsed his speech over and over again to make sure that he could say the right thing in getting Lin as his mentor. And Goldwing was quite surprised to see Master Yu hanging around with the Bei Fong cats, but he was Lin's mentor.

A variety of food had been placed upon the dinner table. Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather were sitting along one side; Lin, Lin's mother named Fen, and Master Yu were sitting along the other. Chao Bei Fong himself was sitting at the head of the table. Snorting sounds on the other side of Silverheart told Goldwing that Ashfeather was eating like a pig.

As a servant placed a hot dish of soup in front of Lin, Fen mewed, "Blow on it. It's too hot for her."

"Here, I'll help," Goldwing interceded politely. To show that he could, he used his tail to create a miniature whirlwind, which zoomed across the table and petered out over her dish, cooling it.

Everyone applauded for his AirBending techniques, Master Yu gasping in surprise. Goldwing looked away in modesty, thanking StarClan for having Goldenstripe as his mentor when he was still unfrozen. Even though the golden tabby's death was still agonizing, he was aware that his mentor was living peacefully in StarClan.

"It is an honor for us to have you as a visitor, Avatar Cat Goldwing," Fen purred, her gray pelt groomed to maximum.

"And in your opinion, how long do you think this war will last?" Chao asked him.

Carefully choosing his words, Goldwing managed to tell the Bei Fongs, "Well...I hope I defeat Darkstar by the end of greenleaf. That's Clan term for summer," he added when he saw their confusion. Looking at Lin, he went on, "But I can't if I can't find a good EarthBending mentor."

He looked over at Lin and saw that she looked quite angry at him.

Flicking his ears at Master Yu, who was licking his paw to get some food off, Chao told him, "Master Yu is the most trustworthy mentor that we could ever find for our daughter. He's been teaching her ever since she was a kitten."

"Then I suppose Lin must be a great EarthBender," Goldwing approved. "I bet seven mouse-tails she's probably good enough to be a mentor for EarthBenders."

Suddenly, he felt earth hit his back paw really hard, making him leap from his seat in pain and surprise. He saw a smirk on Lin's face and, in anger, he found out why: she had EarthBended some bit of floor right at his paw.

As he glared at her, Lin just shrugged and smirked before returning to eating her food with a fork that was used for cats. He could feel patience inside him wilt away at this cat's rude behavior, but he knew better than to pick a fight with her. If he attacked her just once, he could get into very serious trouble, and he wouldn't get a mentor. So he just sat back down and sighed with defeat.

"Lin is still learning the basics," Master Yu began telling Goldwing.

"It's true," Fen mewed sadly. "And since she was blind ever since she was born, I don't think she'll ever become an EarthBending master."

Goldwing and his friend exchanged looks with one another that they hoped that the others wouldn't see. This really wasn't a good time to tell them that Lin was participating in the Earth Rumble tournament. If they said anything about that, Lin would blame them for the rest of her life. Plus, Goldwing was now sure that she was blind, but he knew she wasn't useless.

_Every cat is a gift, though some are more unlucky than others, _his mentor's kind maxim echoed.

"I think she's better than you think," he finally mewed.

Lin looked really annoyed and sent another shock wave at the unaware Goldwing. It knocked his chair backwards, sending his face into the bowl in front of him. He quickly sat up, the bowl still stuck to his face and glared at Lin. The two WaterClan warriors look horrified, and Chao looked very embarrassed. Lin just smiled and took another bite from her meal.

His patience running out, Goldwing glared hard at Lin, who was unaware of his stare. Getting an idea in his head, he grinned before his face screwed up as a sneeze built up. He sneezed, sending a wind across the table that sent the food over the place. Master Yu, Fen Bei Fong and Lin were all covered, but not Chao. At this, Lin got up from her seat so angrily and furiously that the food fell off of her face.

"What's your problem?" she snarled at Goldwing.

"What's _YOUR _problem?" Goldwing spat back at her.

As the two cats continued to glare at one another, Goldwing turned to see his friends look very shocked while Chao and Master Yu looked embarrassed. But only Fen looked unbothered by it all, for she was smiling while she and Yu cleaned themselves up.

"Shall we have dessert now?" she asked rhetorically.

**...**

At Lin's country house, the three Clan warriors had started to settle in for the night. Ashfeather was lying on his side on the floor while Silverheart was sitting on what looked like a mixture of a sofa and a nest. Goldwing, meanwhile, was standing in front of a large window where Archie's face could be seen.

Goldwing gave his Asian Lung Dragon a lick on the forehead and purred a good-night to him before joining the others. Suddenly, a thud made Goldwing hiss and get into a battle pose, but then a familiar scent reached his nose and her sniffed to make sure who it was. It was Lin, and the black she-cat looked rather guilty as she looked at the three Clan warriors.

"Hey, guys. I'm not gonna attack. Sorry for how I behaved at dinner. How about a truce?"

Goldwing nodded and asked, "How about we go for a little walk outside?"

Lin nodded back at him, and the two cats padded outside, leaving the two other cats to stare after them.

**...**

It was night outside as Goldwing and Lin prowled around the mansion grounds, looking for prey. Goldwing was looking for prey while Lin was just walking alongside him. As they prowled over a bridge over a small creek, Goldwing walked on the bridge while Lin walked on the guardrail as the full moon lit the scenery, turning her black fur to pale gray.

Since Lin could be interested in eating some real fresh-kill, Goldwing had volunteered to catch a bird for her. He knew that he and the young kittypet could get along well with her, but he knew he wasn't in love with this cat. The only one he had a crush on was Silverheart, and he had fallen in love with her since they were apprentices.

"Although I was born blind, I never had a problem 'seeing,'" she mewed as they reached the end of the bridge, leaping off the guardrail and landing on the ground on her paws. "I can see with my EarthBending. It's like seeing with the pads on my paws. I can feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can see where everything is. I can feel you, that willow tree...hell, even those ants!"

At the mention of ants, Goldwing looked to see if they were there, but he wasn't quite used to looking around in the dark. He was really impressed with her skills and he wondered if she was Jayfeather's descendant after so many moons, but it seemed impossible. She was just a kittypet.

"Awesome!" Goldwing praised her, smiling at her.

Lin shrugged, but she looked the other way and hissed with frustration. "It _is_ awesome, but my parents don't understand. They've always treated me as if I was just some pet rabbit that's unable to fight for herself."

Goldwing felt sympathetic for her and licked her ear comfortingly. "Is that why you became the Blind Apprentice?" When she nodded, he went on, "Then why do you stay here when you're not happy?"

"They're my parents. What else could I do?" Lin asked him as she looked up, her pale green eyes meeting his dark gray gaze.

"Well...you could come with us if you like," Goldwing told her, hoping it was true. Not only was he looking for a mentor, but she was looking for freedom. "Like my friend said, you'd have to be an apprentice and learn the Warrior Code. But you could be free and prove yourself in battle."

Lin gave him a friendly smile and purred, "Yeah, you guys are wildcats and get to do whatever and say whatever. No one gets to tell you what to do...well, at least away from the Clans...and that's the life! But _this_ isn't my life."

As she looked depressed again, Goldwing noticed a sparrow pecking at the ground and catching a snail. Pouncing forward, Goldwing landed on top of it and killed it with one bite to the neck, thanking StarClan in the process. And as he remembered to give her something to eat, he set it down at her paws, murmuring that it was safe to eat.

The small black cat leaned down to the body of the sparrow and sunk her teeth into its flesh, tearing a piece off. She reared up and started chewing it carefully before finally swallowing it; Goldwing could see her pale green eyes shine as she ate the rest of the sparrow and licked her lips afterward.

"That tasted good!" she purred. "It's better than what my parents feed me."

But as she finished, her head turned suddenly as she sensed something in the earth. She crouched low and rubbed her pads around the earth, feeling the vibrations from underneath the soil.

"Something's gonna attack us," she told Goldwing as she ran with him behind her. As they ran for their lives, Goldwing looked uncertainly at her as if he couldn't know how she could get out of this situation.

Behind them, something tunneling under the ground moved rapidly in pursuit. And as the gopher trail of their tracker passed them and turned around to appear in front of them, the cats slowed down. The burrowing beaver from the tournament burst from the ground and challenged them. Accepting this fight, Goldwing and Lin got into their combat poses, hissing in defiance and their fur bristling.

_We need to get away! And fast!_

Goldwing and Lin looked up just as two metal cases dropped down on them and trapped them. Each had a window with metal bars for their faces. All of the Earth Rumble contestants and even Badgerclaw leaped down from the top of the wall into the garden. The Warthog landed on top of the two metal cases and stomped on them a few times.

Now they faced Badgerclaw, who growled threateningly, "I believe that you little bastards owe me some money."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Ashfeather could tell that something was wrong when he heard screeching in the grounds. So he went to investigate with Silverheart, Lin's parents, and Master Yu behind him. He just hoped that Goldwing didn't get himself or Lin into trouble, but he was the Avatar Cat, after all; he could just find a way out.

_I've known him since we were ten moons old! He could beat someone's ass if they try to capture him!_

Now all five cats stood around the impressions made in the ground by some kind of metal cases used to trap the Avatar Cat and Lin. Ashfeather noticed a dagger stuck in the earth, pinning a scroll to the ground. The dark gray warrior picked it up by the handle and the scroll with it. He offered it to Silverheart by holding the blade of the dagger carefully out to her.

"Here. Whoever took Goldwing and Lin left this behind," he muttered through a mouthful of the dagger handle.

Silverheart accepted the dagger and laid the scroll out onto the ground. Using her claw to pass through the words, she began reading: "If you want to see your daughter again, bring 500 gold Galleons to the Earth Rumble arena.'" She looked up to meow, "And it's signed by "Badgerclaw and The Boulder.'"

Ashfeather looked at it closely and garbled solemnly, "I don't believe this." Then, to everyone's surprise, he suddenly grabbed the scroll, ran a few fox-lengths around the other cats, and dropped to his forelegs. Silverheart and the other cats gave each other some strange looks while they were watching his antics.

Ashfeather held the scroll in between his forepaws and howled loudly to the stars, "I GOT THE BOULDER'S AUTOGRAPH! WOO-HOO!"

His silver littermate gave him a confused and annoyed look as she turned to look at Lin's parents and Master Yu. Ashfeather stopped howling to look over at the three cats talking together.

"Master Yu, please bring our daughter back. Please," Fen was begging the gray tabby tom.

"We'll come with you, Silverheart added, stepping forward while Yu nodded. Ashfeather too stepped in and he also accepted to help out.

Fen nodded, and then she padded over to the two impressions in the ground and crouched down between them. She lashed her tail around in worry while her mate padded over to her and licked her in between her ears in a comforting way.

As Chao kept licking his mate on her ears to comfort her, she mewled, "Poor little Lin. She must be scared by now."

**...**

"You think you're tough, huh?" Lin was growling. She and Goldwing were still trapped in the cases and were dangling from chains holding them to the ceiling. "How about you get your tail over here and I can wipe that smirk off your damn face?"

Badgerclaw and the Boulder glared up at her before Badgerclaw hissed, "I've got news for you, blind cat. I'm not smirking."

"Lin!"

The voice came from behind Badgerclaw, and the black-&-gray tom whipped around to see who was coming. Goldwing was happy to see Silverheart and Ashfeather coming to rescue him and Lin, but he also saw Master Yu and Lin's parents running after them. Ashfeather was holding the same green money bag he won in his jaws.

"Here's your money," Ashfeather called out. "Now let those two cats go."

The dark gray tabby WaterClan warrior dropped the bag to the floor, and Master Yu tossed it over to Badgerclaw with EarthBending. Badgerclaw picked up the bag, opened it, and confirmed its contents. He turned around and gave a sign to someone off of the arena. The metal case to the right began to drop as the sounds of wheels and gears were heard from off the arena.

The case stopped a few cat-lengths above the ground. The bottom opened, up and Lin leaped carefully out of the case and onto the ground. She ran over to her father as he rubbed his chin to her head and guided her away, Master Yu in tow. Silverheart and Ashfeather watched them go and then turned to look towards Badgerclaw and the others. Goldwing was happy to see that Lin was safe, but he was still trapped.

"Hold on," Silverheart mewed, her dark sapphire eyes looking up at the Avatar Cat. "What about OUR friend?"

However, Badgerclaw reached behind him and tossed a scroll onto the ground, and it unfolded. Goldwing was horrified to see a wanted poster of himself; he had first learned of these posters the day before he accidentally burned Silverheart.

"I don't think so," the black-&-gray tom hissed sinisterly at her. "I think Darkstar will give us a really hefty reward for giving him the Avatar Cat. Now get the hell out of my ring. _Now. _Or I'll let my gang take you out."

Each of the contestants from the Earth Rumble tournament started to appear. The first one was a whirlwind approaching them; it stopped and dissipated to reveal FireClan Cat. The fossa with the ugly snarl and the green mask dropped to the floor of the arena, ready for action. A huge animal crashed down, and Goldwing looked down to see the Warthog holding a large stone in his jaws. With his strong jaws, he crushed it. A streak of rock and dust revealed the cobra with the painted face landing in the arena and rushing at the cats.

Finally, the entire group was there: the painted-face cobra, Badgerclaw, FireClan Cat, the green masked fossa with the snarl, the Warthog, and The Boulder. Lastly, the digging beaver erupted from the arena floor in front of Badgerclaw and chattered like crazy.

"Go! I'll be fine!" Goldwing called to his friends. Like he said before, he would blame himself if his friends were killed.

It seemed they just got the message because the two WaterClan warriors backed away. Yet they looked enraged at the animals kidnapping their friends, but there was nothing that they could do. Meanwhile, Lin and her family started backing away as well when the two gray cats joined up with them.

"There's too much of them, Lin," Silverheart croaked to Lin. "An EarthBender has to save him. Lin, you're that cat. We need you."

The three cats looked at her, Chao looking angry. As he wrapped his tail around his daughter's shoulders, the gray-&-white tom hissed, "My daughter is blind; don't you remember? She is a blind, small, and delicate cat. She can't help you."

"Yes I can, Dad!" Lin suddenly protested, wrenching herself from her father's side.

With a snort of mutiny, the small black she-cat began to prowl to the Earth Rumble animals, her short fur waving calmly. Chao looked very distraught at Lin's decision while the Earth Rumble animals began to walk away to the side of the arena. Goldwing felt his case fall down, and the Warthog caught it on his shoulder before following his comrades.

_I should've known._

Suddenly a huge jagged rock erupted from the earth in front of them, blocking their path. The Earth Rumble animals all turned around, and then Goldwing strained to see that Lin was facing off against them while her tail tip twitched furiously.

"Let him go right now," she snarled, baring her teeth. "I beat your asses before and I can beat them again!" she added, sweeping her tail across the air in one swift motion.

"The Boulder will take issues with that comment," The Boulder spoke up.

Flicking his tail, Badgerclaw motioned for the Warthog to drop the case, and he did so, tossing Goldwing's metal prison to the edge of the arena. Quickly, Silverheart and Ashfeather stepped forwards, looking ready for a fight, but Lin blocked their way.

As the contestants ran at her with blinding speed, Lin whispered to the WaterClan cats, "Wait. They're all mine."

_What does she mean?_

They looked at each for a moment before a stomping noise told them that Lin was stomping the ground. Her face was etched with straining strength as they watched her struggle to raise up her tail in an EarthBending move. The contestants were now running at her with an air of indicating high speed.

**...**

Lin waited for a few more moments, then she stomped the ground once again, causing a blast of rock and dust. The entire group of opponents was blow backwards in an enormous wreckage cloud. The expanding shell of debris rushed toward then covered the watching cats, blocking their gaze. The Boulder fell out of the dust cloud and hit the floor with a grunt. Lin gave a snort as she padded into the dust cloud, ignoring her mentor and father's gasps.

She could hear FireClan Cat grunt as he assumed various martial poses in the cloud, looking for his opponent. The dust cleared to reveal that she had leapt right in front of her foe. He saw this and reacted with a yowl of surprise but recovered. Lin could hear the chubby cat's paw make a move, making a small smile spread across her face.

She could hear FireClan Cat raising a stream of earth from the ground next to him, proving that he was no FireClan cat at all. As he shot the stream at her, Lin dodged to the right. The stream of dirt passed her as she leaped out of the way. She concurrently launched her own attack, causing a series of rocks to burst forth from the floor that rapidly approached her opponent. The last rocks blasted FireClan Cat out of the ring.

A groan told her that FireClan Cat was looking up before fainting. _Knockout!_

She could hear the WaterClan cats trying to open Goldwing's metal prison container. Ashfeather pounded at the lock on the front with a rock, while Silverheart tried to open the bottom with her jaws.

"Come on! Hit it harder!" Goldwing yelped.

"I'm trying!" Ashfeather snapped back before trying harder.

The green-masked fossa was now walking on all fours through the dust cloud. A pebble hit the back of his head as he turned to see Lin silhouetted in the dust cloud. She was getting ready for her next move, that tiny smile still on her face. She could hear the large fossa jump into the air with two round rocks in his jaws. He threw them at her at the same time, but she blocked them in midair, and they crashed behind her in unison.

As the green-masked fossa fell back to the ground, Lin struck the ground several times with her front paw. As she did, a thin pillar of rock erupted from the ground, hitting her foe in the belly. He bounced from pillar to pillar like a kangaroo until the last bounce ejected him from the arena. A thud and a grunt told her that she hit FireClan Cat as he landed.

With her clever ears, Lin could hear the burrowing beaver erupt from the floor behind her. She could hear the wind blow as the rock he threw at her slowly approached the back of her neck at her jugular. But she managed to catch it and throw it right back at him. It hit the beaver on the forehead, and he was knocked through the floor at FireClan Cat and the green-masked fossa.

Lin heard Ashfeather slam his rock into the metal case one more time, breaking the lock. The bottom of the case opened up and Goldwing leaped out, hissing and ready for a fight. But he didn't need to, for Ashfeather was telling him not to get in, for Lin was doing all the fighting.

Meanwhile, the Warthog galloped out of the dusk cloud, swinging one of the EarthClan stone circles with the square center. But when Lin attacked the Boulder, he stopped as The Boulder got flung out of the cloud and landed beside the wild boar. He got up as Lin appeared from the cloud. She now stood on the large stone circle that dominated the center of the arena. She ran forward while her fur bristled, her tail held up right behind her.

The Boulder made some threatening noises and the Warthog pawed the ground with his hoof as Lin rushed at them. She felt her left ear wiggle slightly in reaction to some noise. The Warthog and The Boulder began to rush her while the cobra flew down towards his target below. Lin made several shuddering motions and the whole stone circle began to turn. The painted cobra swings back into the ring and slammed into the Warthog and the Boulder just as they were about to strike her.

With quick motions, she crouched to the ground and started to dig, yowling over her shoulder, "You're doing great! How about I dig you a grave! How deep do you want it? How wide?" She made sure to throw loose rocks at her foes, making them hit the floor fast.

Now the three contestants groaned in a heap in front of her. The scene was still obscured by a dust cloud made from the fighting. Lin gave a slight smile before executing some powerful Bending moves. She could feel the three foes being ejected from the ring and crash into their compatriots below.

"I...I never knew this," Master Yu was telling her father in shock. "Your daughter is an amazing EarthBender!"

Lin stood in front of the significant dust cloud, the other cats on the side to her right. She made one swift motion and the cloud was blown away to reveal a single opponent left: Badgerclaw. The smaller black cat was prepared to make the head of the Earth Rumble Tournament pay for kidnapping her.

The large black-&-gray tom cracked his neck in preparation for the duel. He took up a fighting stance, then Lin spat in the opposite direction, earning a yelp from her father. As the two began circling each other, Lin never took her blind eyes off of Badgerclaw's, even though she couldn't see. Suddenly, in quick succession, Badgerclaw started the battle by launching boulders at her. He tossed a single boulder, a double, a single, a triple, and a final single rock at her.

Just before the first rocks hit, she raised two triangular sheets of rock in front of her as a shield with her tail; the rocks bounced off her shield as a result. After the last one struck, she launched one of the two shields at her opponent, missing as he launched himself into the air to avoid it. As he spun around in midair, Lin felt his claws dig into the earth as he spun. When his claws made contact, she felt the shockwaves hit her paw, knowing what to do now.

Badgerclaw dug a chunk of earth out of the floor of the arena and threw it at her. She dodged it with ease it passed by her face. Her expression was blank as the pebbles flew past her face. Lin hurriedly fired her own earth weapons at him, sneering at the thought of Badgerclaw's horrified face. She heard him getting blasted out of the ring and land in between her father and mentor in the stands. A thud told her that he fell into the pit below.

Lin felt that if she could see, she could see the three warriors nod to her and smile with approval. And she could see the shock on her father's and mentor's face while she heard Yu rasp, "She's the greatest EarthBender I've ever seen! Even better than I!"

_True that._

**...**

Goldwing and his friends waited behind Lin as the small black cat sat before her parents; Lin was back in her fancy robes. Goldwing didn't want to leave without her, for she was the greatest EarthBender that he ever saw...even better than Rockstar, he had to admit. But he wasn't sure about her parents.

"Dad," Lin's voice made Goldwing pay attention, "I know it's hard for you to see me like this, but the weak little blind kit you think I am isn't me. I love to fight, and I love to be an EarthBender. And I'm _really_ good at it."

Her voice cracked with pride as she went on, "I know I've kept my life a secret from you, but you and Mom kept me a secret from the world. And I know you're doing it to protect me. But I'm ten moons old, and I've never had friends before. I want to be a warrior of EarthClan, learning about the Warrior Code and helping stop this war. Now you see who I am, but I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me."

Silently, Goldwing prayed, _Please, StarClan. Please let her father say yes._

Chao tipped his head to one side and mewed, "Of course it doesn't change the way I feel for you, Lin. And it made me realize something."

Lin looked up hopefully, but Chao's amber eyes glowed with irritation and his next words made Goldwing groan: "It made me realize that I've let you have too much freedom; it's even made you think like a dangerous wildcat. From now on, you'll be guarded and cared for all day long."

"Dad, what the hell?" Lin wailed with sorrow.

"Watch your language!" Chao snapped with worry while Fen added gently, "It's for the best, Lin."

The three Clan warriors gave Lin a caring look before glaring back at Chao. Goldwing could see Ashfeather's claws slide out and scrap the floor. With a twitch of his tail, the Avatar Cat let him know that this wasn't the time, so the dark gray tabby tom sheathed his claws.

Chao stood up and gave instructions to his guards. "Escort the Avatar Cat and the other wildcats out of our territory. They are no longer welcome here. They will _not_ take my daughter."

Goldwing knew better than to protest, but he wanted to let Lin come along. Despite being born a kittypet, the black she-cat was unhappy in her current life. While being escorted away, he looked over his shoulder and whispered to her, "I'm sorry."

"Me too, Goldwing," Lin whispered back, tears in her blind green eyes. "Good-bye." Then, with a sob, she turned away and streaked out of the room, a stench of sorrow bitter in the air.

**...**

Feeling that they should look beck before leaving on Archie, Goldwing and Silverheart padded to the lip of a small cliff in front of them. It was a shame Lin couldn't become his mentor and be a warrior cat, but maybe destiny made her be a kittypet for the rest of her life.

Silverheart turned to Goldwing, her silvery-gray fur turning white in the moonlight. "Don't worry, Goldwing. We'll find you a new mentor. There's some more EarthBenders out there."

"Not like her..." Goldwing murmured.

_Not like her_, he repeated to himself.

A squeak made the two warriors turn around to see Ashfeather wearing the belt around his neck; the squeaking noise was him shining it up. Goldwing was peeved that Silverheart's brother wasn't bothered by what happened. Giving a sigh, he and his WaterClan crush padded to Archie, padded on his tail, and allowed Archie to lift them onto his back.

Suddenly, a yowl made Goldwing look up as he smelled a familiar earth scent. Though it was night, he was happy to see who it was: Lin. The small black cat was rushing to them, panting heavily. Goldwing and his friends gaped at her with wonder.

"Lin! What the hell are you doing here?" Goldwing asked.

"My dad changed his mind!" she squealed with happiness, jumping up and down. "He said I can travel the world and be a warrior. And I took the chance!"

Ashfeather nodded down to her and exchanged looks with his sister while saying, "Well let's get outta this shithole before your dad changes his mind. And welcome aboard!"

Lin purred up at him.

"I think you'll be a great mentor, Lin," Goldwing purred, staring down at her.

The black cat nodded slyly. "Thanks! Speaking of that, I got a little surprise for you."

Goldwing nodded and leapt down from Archie's saddle. As he padded up to Lin, she tapped the ground with her front paw, and a rock erupted from the ground, throwing Goldwing out of her way. While landing in the branches of a willow tree, the Avatar Cat was impressed in spite of receiving his surprise.

"Now we're even," Lin purred, looking up at him. Goldwing smiled, leapt down, and nodded his agreement. As they got back onto Archie, she turned to Ashfeather and told him, "And you still got my belt. So I'll have that back, thank you."

Ashfeather gave a small groan, took the belt off, and tossed it to her. It hit her on the top of her head, and she let out a surprised hiss of pain, making Ashfeather apologize quickly. But while he had been watching this, Goldwing completely forgot something that they should do.

"Lin, you said you want to be a warrior, right?" When she recovered and nodded, he went on, "It's time to make you an apprentice of EarthClan."

Watching his friends line up in front of him, the golden AirClan cat prayed to StarClan to give him the right words. Looking up to Silverpelt, he raised his voice and began speaking clearly.

"Lin, you may be ten moons old already, but it is time for you to receive your apprentice name." Seeing her fur completely dark against the night sky, he meowed, "Lin, from this day until you become a warrior, your name shall be Nightpaw. I ask StarClan to watch over you and guide you until you find in your paws the strength and courage of a warrior."

"Nightpaw! Nightpaw!" Ashfeather and Silverheart chanted while the newly named Nightpaw gazed up at him in a prayer of thanks.

Not wanting to show some special treatment, Goldwing called out, "Silverheart, you are ready to take on your first apprentice." As she stepped forward, looking surprised, he went on, "You have received excellent training from Snowstorm and you have shown yourself to be brave and fierce. You will be the mentor of Nightpaw and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."

Trying hard not to quiver at this revelation, Silverheart nodded, leaned in towards Nightpaw, and touched noses with her new apprentice. When this was done, Goldwing told Nightpaw, "You may be a warrior apprentice now, but I look forward to learn EarthBending from you."

"I'll do my best," she purred to him. "And thanks, Goldwing. This is the best night of my life."

**...**

"I know you two are very different, but I believe you two have a common interest."

As Chao placed a box onto the ground and opened it, the eyes of Master Yu and Badgerclaw were glowing with astonishment and possible greed. Their mission was about to be set.

"The Avatar Cat has taken my daughter away. Do whatever it takes to get her back."

**...**

Goldwing looked over at Nightpaw as she curled up in her sleep next to her new mentor. He knew she was now completely happy where she belonged now. They were one step away from learning EarthBending now.

_Thank you, StarClan._

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**Aang: So Toph's cat form gets to be an apprentice? That's great! It's always nice to have a teacher to teach you.**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. And that's also why I'm writing the next chapter for Book 3.**

**Katara: Speaking of that, when will it be done?**

**AvatarCat12: I just finished the first part, and I have to write the rest down. But don't worry. I'll have it up soon.**

**Aang: Okay. And I think we should wrap this up with a review and a preview for the next chapter called Bearclaw Alone. Anyone who reviews this chapter will receive a virtual plush doll of Nightpaw and a virtual box of your favorite candy. Flames aren't allowed on this story, but constructive criticism is always welcome.**

**Preview: With no one to help him now, Bearclaw has become a true rogue cat. Along his lone travels, he meets a kit who helps him out when he needed help. But along with cruel EarthClan warriors, Bearclaw has to face another obstacle: memories of his kithood.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	8. Bearclaw Alone

**AvatarCat12: For right now, Aang and Katara aren't here with me today. They had to go run an errand for the day. So today, for this chapter, we'll be joined by Fire Lord Zuko! (As Zuko comes into the office and sits down) So Zuko, how's life treating you?**

**Zuko: Quite well. And I've heard about Legend Of Korra coming out tomorrow. Are you excited?**

**AvatarCat12: You bet I am!**

**Zuko: Good. I'm excited too, seeing the city Aang and I made. And even though I'll hate what comes up in this chapter, we gotta get it over with. Now if it's all right with you, I'd like to say the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: AvatarCat12 does not and never want to own our series or Warrior Cats. If he did, he would try and make Bending real. And he does not own the song "One Of Us." It belongs to **

**Summary: With no one to help him now, Bearclaw has become a true rogue cat. Along his lone travels, he meets a kit who helps him out when he needed help. But along with cruel EarthClan warriors, Bearclaw has to face another obstacle: memories of his kithood.**

**Uploading Date:**

**Both: Enjoy!**

…**...**

_Bearclaw Alone_

It was a partly cloudy day as Bearclaw rode his pinto mare out from under a dead tree. He and the horse had been really tired and hungry after wandering around for so long after they had left Irontail behind. But since he was on his own and wearing a coolie hat and riding a horse, he was completely on his own as a rogue. So he let the horse get up, and they went on their way.

They had arrived at a rope suspension bridge, feeling doubtful at first. But Bearclaw had to get across, so he rode the pinto mare over the bridge, making her go one careful step at a time on it. The mare accidentally put a hoof through one of the planks and almost lost her balance. Acting quickly, Bearclaw managed to quickly get the animal onto her feet and continue crossing the bridge. He sent a silent thank-you prayer to StarClan as they stopped at the other side of the bridge.

Later, Bearclaw stopped his mount mid stride, scenting something in the air. He leapt off the horse and snuck into some thorn bushes, ignoring the thorns poking into his sides. On the other side of the bushes in a clearing, a black-&-white tom was burrowing for a rabbit down to the ground and killed the creature when he dug it out of its burrow. Without warning, Bearclaw's belly began to growl a growl that would make a snake hear him.

_I'm so hungry that I could eat a cow._

The dark tabby laid his tail on his growling stomach and tried to hold back, but he couldn't. His uncle had always told him to not steal another cat's fresh-kill, but he had to eat something…even if it meant stealing. Besides, the gray tabby wasn't around to tell him to not steal anymore; he was on his own as a rogue now, and he had to live by his own rules. So he unsheathed his claws and slunk through the bushes to the other tom, ready to fight for the rabbit and pilfer it. But what he saw next made him stop.

The black-&-white tomcat was dragging the rabbit over to two cats waiting for him underneath a big quiver tree. One was a gray tabby she-cat while the other was a brown tabby-&-white she-cat, her belly huge with unborn kits. The black-&-white tom touched noses with the gray tabby while he nuzzled the brown tabby she-cat, laying a forepaw gently on her enlarged belly while setting the rabbit down; all three cats were purring.

That little family scene made Bearclaw pull his claws back and step away, feeling anxious. He didn't want to steal from a family expecting kits; if he injured the pregnant queen while taking the rabbit, her mate would get revenge more severely. Also, he knew that his uncle would be disappointed in his nephew if he injured the she-cat and made her miscarry.

So he gave a snarl of defeat before padding back to the pinto mare. His belly growled, but he knew that they would find food and water soon.

…**...**

Bearclaw was near sleeping on the horse's saddle by the time the sun rose in the sky. He noticed, as he tried to drink some water from a canteen, that the canteen was empty. Going over to a dry river, he tried to dig hard into the ground to find water, but the hot ground made his claws bleed, and he had to give up.

Giving a tired yet irritated hiss, Bearclaw tottered dizzily over to the horse and climbed back on, collapsing onto the saddle. Up ahead of him, the landscape was a grassy field strewn with huge spherical shaped stones with squares cut from the middle. Many were already embedded in the earth. He felt that the endless harsh environment would not come to an end; being a rogue was harder than he thought.

_I wish I got some survival lessons from Uncle. That would help me right now._

As he rode on, his eyes became weighty as he tried not to sleep at all, but the sleep threatened to swallow him up. When his eyesight became blurry, he fought back the sleep still, jerking himself awake a few times. He had a fleeting vision of a beautiful light brown tabby she-cat with warm amber eyes and FireClan scent on her pelt, but he woke up with a start.

…**...**

After they had ridden for quite a while, Bearclaw and the mare arrived at a small hill overlooking a village. But the dark brown tabby tom was reluctant at first about entering the village for fear of revealing his identity of his alter ego: the Red Demon. But he hadn't robbed or killed these cats before, so he gave a sigh and led the horse down to the village to get some food and water.

Bearclaw padded down the empty streets with his mare moseying unexcitedly after him. So far, he hadn't seen a market yet, but he finally managed to find one, then he looked to the side when he heard a yowl. A few large EarthClan cats were playing some kind of game.

"Come on! Get me a snake eyes!"

One large ginger-&-gray tabby tom that spoke was sitting in the middle of two heavily built gray toms. He was now shaking a pair of dice in his paws to throw in front of them, throwing them and rolling two ones. The larger gray tom gave a snarl and a scowl mixed as the roller leaped around in victory. But his two neighbors squatting next to him began to hit him with their claws.

Bearclaw had to heave a sigh as he approached the stall right beside the three gambling warriors. He expected that they should be patrolling around and protecting their cats, but they were doing nothing but being lazy fat kittypets. If he was still a warrior of FireClan, he wouldn't rest until his entire Clan was safe from harm. But he didn't want to cause any problems for these cats while he was tired and starving, so he just padded silently past them and up to the shop.

"Excuse me," he meowed to the merchant, a gray cat. He placed his bag on the counter and dropped coins onto there, mewing, "Can I have some water, a bag of oats, and something to eat?"

The tom mewed, "Ain't enough for food here, I'm afraid. And there's a small stream somewhere around here, but there's not much water, so we have to dig for it. But we do have enough for two bags of oats if you want that instead."

Bearclaw sighed in despair, but there was nothing left to do, so he just reared up onto the counter and waited for the two oat bags to come forth. He didn't notice the warrior cats looking at him, but he could hear them whispering to one another. But when the dark tabby turned to look at them, they had quickly returned to their game. And when Bearclaw looked away, he could hear laughter from beside him and he saw several kits peeking out from the side of the stall.

_Kit games, I presume?_

At the side, a dark gray kit handed his friend an egg, who threw it quite hard at the gambling soldiers. It hit the ginger-&-gray tom on the head and the egg broke, splattering him with egg yolk on the head; when the warriors started growling, the kits squeaked and ran off. Bearclaw saw this and quickly turned his back to the warriors, but the warriors got up to their paws and looked over to see him with his back turned to them.

"You!" one of the gray toms snarled as he stalked over to Bearclaw. As all three cats surrounded the dark tabby, he growled, "You think throwin' eggs at us is funny, little ass? You threw it at us?"

Bearclaw glared at him, but he just replied, "No."

The gray tom growled, "Did you _see_ who threw it?"

"No," Bearclaw replied again, unsheathing his claws on one forepaw. If they continued to accuse him like that, the fur would really fly.

"Oh, so 'no' is your favorite word?" the ginger-&-gray tom sneered.

The gray tom added, "Yeah. Egg could be from somewhere."

Bearclaw looked up to the sky and replied, "Maybe a chicken dropped a bad egg onto you by passing."

The ginger-&-gray tom began laughing loudly, but a quick glare from the big gray tomcat made him shut up. Bearclaw just rolled his eyes and turned his back to the warriors. He could never understand these kinds of cats; besides, he didn't like cats that pretended to be as tough as they sounded. The dark brown tabby tom could hear some hisses from the other cats, but he coolly ignored them.

Bearclaw looked around to see that the bags of oats were being placed onto the counter. But just when he was about to take them, the big gray tom leapt forward, seized the bags in his jaws, and tossed one of them to his comrades. Bearclaw let out a growl and charged at them, but the other gray tom head-butted him away; when he looked up, he saw the other cats stalking away with their leader behind them.

"Thanks for the donation. We appreciate it," the big gray cat sneered over his shoulder. Then, with a serious voice, he added, "I suggest you leave this place right away. A penalty for staying here is grimmer than you can manage to pay for or get used to, stranger. Trust me on that," he concluded, unsheathing his claws.

And with that, the three warriors stalked away, laughing their heads off.

Giving a growl of anger, Bearclaw swiped at the ground, but this wasn't going to help. When he turned to face the merchant, he saw that he had a look of disappointment and anger on his face. It seemed that Bearclaw himself wasn't the only one who hated these cats.

"We get that all the time," the merchant told him with a hiss. "These warriors are supposed to be here to protect us from threats including FireClan. But they're thugs, and all they ever do is either laze around or steal from other cats."

Bearclaw just gave a weary sigh and padded over to his horse, which was whinnying with faint hunger and her eyes were rolled back from fatigue. He still didn't have anything for her because those thieving EarthClan warriors that were supposed to guard their Clan stole from him. Licking his lips for something warm to eat and for some cool refreshing water, he leapt onto the horse's saddle and prepared to take off.

But just before he could, he saw a small blur of brown appear before him, making the horse snort weakly. If she was fully quenched and full-fed, then she would quickly neigh in fear and gallop away. For right now, however, all she could do was just stare blankly at the blur in front of her.

"Hey. Thanks for not telling on me," the brown blur, revealed to be a kit, mewed.

Bearclaw just gave a grunt and gave a sharp meow for the mare to go, and she did so but weakly. The kit looked confused at first, but he shook himself and grabbed at the reins with his jaws. At first peeling his lips back and giving the kit a fierce snarl, Bearclaw realized that he was probably going to help him and his horse out; besides, there could be some food and water nearby. So he pulled the snarl off his face and gave the kit a confused look.

The kit looked up at him and mewed, "I can take you to my place, and I can get your horse some food and water. So let's go! I owe you one!"

Surprised to hear the last part, Bearclaw wrapped his tail around his front paws and let his belly growl at him. He didn't expect the kit to give him something in return, for he wasn't used to any cat but his mother and uncle to help him out. But this kit reminded him of himself when he was a young carefree kit in FireClan, and he would see how any kit outside of royalty lived their life.

So Bearclaw let the kit lead his horse away.

…**...**

A few minutes later, the two cats arrived at a small farm, where chickens and pigs looked at them before walking off. There were also miniature ponies that looked up from grazing to see the cats before going back to grazing. Bearclaw could also see some quail flying above them, and he saw that they were returning to their summer home. He had never been to a farm before; he had only known FireClan territory when he was a kit. After Darkstar had banished him, he got to see some more of the world.

"See those rocks?" the kit mewed as he pointed his tail at red rocks poking out from the ground. "It gives us a good scouting area, so no one can sneak up on us!"

Bearclaw had to admire that, but he was too tired to say anything. All he did was to give a noting grunt.

As they passed a pole where the border was marked, Bearclaw looked up to see a white rooster looking down at him. The flightless bird gave a loud crow before fluttering down to the ground. Bearclaw supposed that not all chickens were flightless lumps of feathers that deserved to be eaten. He supposed that these fat farm birds are capable of some flight, but they could also be quite stupid.

A pale gray tabby tom prowling around noticed them and padded forward. Then he asked the kit, "So Moss, who's your new friend?"

But while Moss ran over to his father, what the tom meowed made Bearclaw hiss inwardly; this kit had the same name he was trying to create. If he said his name out loud, there would be lots of questions about his real name; if he even said his real name, these cats could drive him out. So he held his tongue and nodded to the pale gray tabby cat.

"Dad, this cat stood up against the warriors!" Moss mewed as he pranced about his father's paws. "He made them flee with their tails between their legs!"

Just then, a ginger she-cat with brown ears and brown paws approached them with a gray rabbit in her jaws. Her pelt was short and smooth, as was her family's, and Bearclaw noticed that these pelts could help them survive in the searing environment. She gave the dark brown tabby rogue a welcoming nod, set the rabbit down, and padded over to the other cats.

"So you have a name?" she asked him in a friendly voice.

Bearclaw was afraid to tell these cats his name, but the pale gray tabby mewed to his mate, "If he does want to tell us, Abby, then it's all right." Giving her a lick on the ear, he added to Bearclaw, "Any cat who fends off those bully warriors are as welcome as a newborn kit. Those cats should be ashamed to even share the same territory as us."

Abby nodded and added to Bearclaw, "The true warriors are out there fighting in the Great War; also, our oldest son Redfang is out there with them." Looking at the gray rabbit she just captured, she went on, "I just caught us some dinner. Would you like to stay and eat with us today?"

Even though the taste of rabbit meat was tempting and made his mouth water, Bearclaw felt that he couldn't become a burden to these cats. He had noticed brief sadness in the three cats' eyes at the name Redfang; he was sure they needed to pay their respects to a member of the family.

So he turned away and muttered, "Sorry, but…I gotta go."

"But I think Marston needs help with digging holes in the ground to warm the chicken eggs," Abby insisted. "How about you two work on that, and then we'll eat?"

Bearclaw didn't expect kindness from these cats apart from Irontail and Song, a young pretty tortoiseshell who he befriended at the beginning of newleaf. Despite not wanting to trouble them, he gave a sigh and nodded in agreement.

…**...**

Several minutes later, Bearclaw and Marston were hard at work while digging holes for chickens ready to lay their eggs. While they dug in the side of the dry bank of a waterless stream, Moss was watching Bearclaw with fascination and a new admiration in his eyes. The ex-FireClan cat ignored his looks and concentrated on digging harder despite his claws aching from the digging.

"So…are you from around here?" the tabby kit asked.

Bearclaw shook his head. "Nah."

Moss stared at him still. "So where are you from?"

"Far away from here," was Bearclaw's reply.

"Oh," Moss mewed, sitting down. "So why'd you leave?"

Marston looked up from digging and lightly reprimanded his son, "Moss, he doesn't want to talk about it. It seems to be too personal for him to tell you that. Okay?"

Moss looked down while nodding; Bearclaw felt bad because kits were usually curious. But he had to keep his history a secret from these cats so that they couldn't drive him out.

Then… "Where'd you get that scar? And why's your other ear missing?"

That made Bearclaw hiss out loud as he sunk his claws a little too hard into something prickly. As he reared back to give a sharp growl of pain, he looked down to see a hedgehog crawl out of the hole and run off into the bushes. What this kit mewed made him a bit mad at him…and a little scared. Plus, he didn't want anyone questioning about his ear, which was torn off around four moons ago by the Avatar Cat.

"Son, it's not nice to bother cats when they don't want to talk about something," Marston scolded his son gently. "A cat's past is their own business."

Bearclaw just decided to ignore the incident and kept digging. His paw was aching from where the hedgehog's bristles had spiked him, and his claws were bleeding from the excessive digging. But he didn't mind, for he decided to work hard until he could gain the trust of these cats. Despite having just met them, they seemed to be friendly to any cat that could pass by.

But while he dug harder into the ground, memories of his past began to fill his mind.

…**...**

_**Three years ago…**_

_Bearkit gazed into the water with much interest as he sat at the edge of the royal pond. Inside the pond were several carp and goldfish just waiting to be eaten while ducks swam at the surface in a lazy way. He dabbed a paw out to touch the surface and try to catch a fish, but he pulled back; only WaterClan cats eat fish._

_He was living at a sheltered compound deep in the heart of FireClan's mountains near the royal palace of the FireClan leaders. He was sitting right next to his mother, a beautiful light brown tabby she-cat with white paws and amber eyes. Her name was Bearheart, and she was showing him how to feed the ducks by tossing small pieces of bread to them. The waterfowl were dashing for the pieces and gulping them down._

"_Hey, Mom," Bearkit mewed, wagging his rear in the air. "You wanna see how Frostkit feeds the ducks?"_

_Bearheart nodded warmly. "Show me how."_

_Finding a small rock, he grabbed it in his jaws and tossed it at the ducks. One of the ducklings was bonked on the head by the rock and disappeared beneath the surface while it was calling miserably to its mother. The mother duck was freaking out, quacking fiercely._

"_Bearkit! Why in StarClan's name did you do that?" his mother scolded him, shocked._

_Bearkit looked away from her, feeling ashamed. "It's what Frostkit showed me."_

_The duckling resurfaced, blinked, and shook his head as its mother swam over to make sure the baby was okay. Once sure of this, she swerved around, flew to the land, and attacked Bearkit by biting his ear. Bearkit yelped in pain as he ran around the pond with the duck attached to his ear. He hoped Frostkit wouldn't laugh at him trying to get rid of it like a flea._

I hope she never hears about this!

_As Bearkit continued to yelp, Bearheart rushed over and gave a warning hiss to the duck, which let go of the kit's ear. Then the duck flew back to her babies and swam away, giving the two cats one quack of protest before leaving._

"_Stupid duck!" Bearkit growled, his voice breaking with shame. "Why'd she do that?"_

_Bearheart smiled down at him and purred, "That's what all mothers are like, Bearkit. If you mess with their kits…" She wrapped her kit with one foreleg while making a gentle cuffing motion to his uninjured ear "…they'll hit you back."_

_Bearkit laughed happily, feeling better after what that. He snuggled up to his mother's chest as she laid down in the grass beside him. He looked up into her warm and gentle amber eyes, very sure that feeling safe under her protection made him feel happier. So he finally fell asleep for a short catnap._

…**...**

_After their catnap, Bearkit and Bearheart padded to yet another part of the courtyard for a little walk. Since Bearkit couldn't leave camp until he was six moons old, for he was only four moons old, he was to stay behind. But that didn't bother him; in fact, he wanted to learn more about new places in the Clan camp that he hadn't discovered._

_A squeal made Bearkit turn to see what was going on: three kits were playing together. One of the kits leaping from rock to rock was white with gray paws, a gray tail tip, black head fur, and gray eyes; this was Cloudkit. Another kit trying to follow her on the rocks was Bearkit's black-pelted sister and littermate, Frostkit. And the one watching them with boredom in her amber eyes was Rosekit, a dark tortoiseshell._

_Cloudkit was leaping from rock to rock with such grace and elegance for a kit while Frostkit was lagging behind. When the black kit leapt from one more rock, she grabbed onto the edge, but she slipped and fell to the ground unhurt. And when Cloudkit made it to the final rock, Frostkit just leapt up, pushed her down, and laughed at her in a bit of a mean way._

"_Frostkit!" Cloudkit whined with mild hurt in her gray eyes._

_Bearkit saw that Rosekit wasn't joining in on the fun; instead, she looked relaxed in the shade of the willow tree. But he did see her look at him and turn away, blushing. Bearkit couldn't help but also look away; he had a crush towards the dark tortoiseshell she-kit and knew that they were different. He was full of vigor and energy while Rosekit was a bit depressing and emo…as the extinct Twolegs called it._

_But what he saw next made him suspicious: Frostkit looked between the two, gave her littermate a sly grin, and padded to Cloudkit to whisper something to her. Then, a big grin on her face, she started to pad towards her brother and mother. Bearkit couldn't help but step away; no matter what their mother or their uncle said about them getting along, he didn't like to play with her. He knew there was something wrong with her: maybe intelligence for a young kit or having grown to be snobby for being a cat of royalty._

_As soon as Frostkit arrived, she asked Bearheart, "Mama, can Bearkit play with us today? We're fixing to play a game and we need one more player."_

"_I don't wanna play Rock Jumping," Bearkit retorted, stepping away from her._

"_But we're not playing that game. Besides, Rock Jumping isn't all about fun and games; it helps us improve our jumping skills…dum-dum," she added under her breath, rolling her golden eyes._

_Hearing that, Bearkit growled, "I don't care! I don't wanna play!"_

_Frostkit put on a false hurt tone and mewed, "But we're littermates, right? Besides, the Warrior Code says we should be loyal to our Clanmates." Then her voice turned sickingly sweet as she mewed, "And it's important for siblings to spend time together. Don't YOU think so, Mama?" she asked her mother._

_Bearheart seemed to start thinking about that, and Bearkit prayed to StarClan that he wouldn't have to play with Frostkit. But what she said next made him groan silently:_

"_I agree, Frostkit." To Bearkit, she ruffled his head fur with her paw and told him, "I think it's a good thing: spending time with your littermate. Go on," she added, nudging the reluctant dark brown tabby kit forward. "Just for a little bit."_

_Giving a sigh of defeat, he padded over to where the other kits gathered while his mother walked away from him. He wanted to turn and ask her to take another walk with him, but he didn't want to get in trouble. So he had no choice but to play with his annoying littermate and her friends._

_As soon as Bearheart was out of earshot, Frostkit climbed up the willow tree and clung onto a branch while picking out a willow orange. Even though he hated playing with his littermate, Bearkit admitted that she had good climbing skills. FireClan prided themselves in having superb intelligence skills, just like WaterClan had swimming skills, EarthClan had fighting skills, and the now-extinct AirClan had leaping skills._

"_Listen up," Frostkit called as she climbed carefully down the tree. "Here's what you have to do. All you have to do is to shoot the orange off the other kit's head. Like this," she went on, placing the orange on Rosekit's head._

_As Rosekit continued to look aloof, Frostkit whipped her tail around a little as red fires engulfed it. She did another flick of the tail, and the flames zoomed at the orange, lighting it on fire and making Rosekit squeak in surprise. Frostkit looked smug while Cloudkit looked half-terrified and half-fascinated._

_But Bearkit was all terrified; he didn't want to get a cat burned because he couldn't do anything to stop it. So he leapt into action (literally) while ignoring Frostkit's smug look and crashed right into Rosekit, and they both fell into the pond. This made the mother duck quack angrily and leave with her ducklings. Bearkit let out a growl of anger at this, realizing that Frostkit was tricking him; she had changed a lot since last moon._

_Bearkit and Rosekit glared at Frostkit as the black she-kit mewed to Cloudkit, "See? I told you it'd work."_

"_Awww, they looked _so cute_ together!" Cloudkit cooed._

_Bearkit let out a growl as he stalked away. Rosekit remained behind to tell her friends, "You two are such…_ugh_!"_

_He couldn't help but agree, even though he didn't want to say it out loud. He was thinking of the worst insults to call his sister when Bearheart was padding over to him. Bearkit felt embarrassed at this because he was soaking wet, the water dripping from his long tabby fur._

"_There you are. I was just coming over to pick you up." Noticing his wet fur, she asked, "Why are you soaking wet?"_

"_I'll tell you why," Bearkit muttered as he shook himself dry until he looked like a dark brown cotton ball. "She-kits are crazy!"_

…**...**

"'_If the grand city of BoulderClan is as superb as their grand wall, it is something that must be to behold. I hope that you at home may get to see the city…if we don't burn it to a crisp first!"_

_Bearkit heard this letter while imagining his Uncle Irontail at the big battle of BoulderClan. He could also see the amusement on his flat face and his gentle purr as he mentioned the last thing he said. Then he imagined seeing an enormous wall breached through and smoke rising from it while warriors guarded the place._

_As Bearkit and Frostkit purred at that comment, Bearheart purred too before continuing reading the letter, "'Until I return, I would like to give you kits these gifts; I hope you like and enjoy them. For Bearkit, here is a diamond dagger from the EarthClan deputy when he gave up his struggle. Please note the message and the excellent craftsmanship."_

_A servant cat brought forth a tray with a dagger on top. Trying hard to contain his excitement, Bearkit padded towards the servant and civilly accepted the gift. It was indeed a diamond-made dagger and, when he took it carefully, used his paws to unsheathe it. When this was done, he looked at the inscription on the front of the blade._

"'Give it all of your might.'"

"'_And for Frostkit…'" the light brown tabby queen read as Frostkit was given a tray by another servant, "…here is a new friend. She had the latest fashion from ancient Japan."_

_As Bearheart spoke, Frostkit picked a small china doll with green cloths on it. Unlike Bearkit, who really liked his gift, she seemed to hate hers with a burning resentment._

_Then she mewed haughtily, "So if Uncle Irontail dies during the battle…then Father gets to be the leader, right?"_

_As Bearkit played with his new dagger, Bearheart scolded her daughter in a displeased tone, "Frostkit, warriors don't talk like that about their Clanmates. It would be awful if your Uncle didn't return from his battle at BoulderClan. Besides, in FireClan, Thistlestar is an icon of good health. As a Clan leader, he guides us through our troubles. And the deputy becomes the leader after the leader dies."_

"_Yeah!" Bearkit added while looking up from playing with his gift. "How would _you_ like it if our cousin Wolfcloud wanted Dad dead?"_

"_But I still say Father would make a much better leader of our Clan than…well…his royal lazy cowardly brother." She mewed, glaring down at her new doll. Then she bit down onto the doll's head, and flames sprung from her teeth while burning the head off._

_That action made Bearheart gasp in shock while Bearkit hid behind his mother. Even though he didn't like Frostkit that much, he was also frightened of her._

…**...**

A sudden noise made Bearclaw open an eye as he watched a small shadow slink to his swords he used for his Red Demon work. It was night time, and Bearclaw had gotten full from rabbit meat, thus feeling sleepy right away. He didn't even try to stop Moss from taking his swords away for a bit.

When Moss was away, Bearclaw got up from his hay nest, stretched, yawned, and padded out of the barn. He soon spotted the kit in a nearby field of corn, practicing with one of the swords he just "borrowed".

"You're doing it wrong," the large dark tabby meowed, startling the kit.

Moss had fallen into a small hole the size of a rabbit and climbed out of it, a sunflower resting on his head. Bearclaw purred at that little antic, but he didn't laugh out loud in fear of hurting Moss' feelings. Looking very ashamed, the tabby kit padded to the rogue and handed him the sword.

But instead of taking it from him, Bearclaw kindly put the sword handle in his jaws and told him, "Just remember that these are dual swords." He took the other sword in his jaws and displayed moves for him, seeing the amazed look on his face.

When he was done, he mewed, "They're two halves of a weapon, I'll tell you that. Don't think of them as separate, because they're not separated weapons at all. They're just two parts of the same weapon."

He handed one sword to the kit, and Moss went deeper into the field to perform moves with the borrowed sword. Bearclaw followed him to keep an eye on him and, when Moss turned to see his expression, his tail was twitching and he had an unusual smile on his face, making him purr. That was because the tabby kit reminded Bearclaw of himself when he was a kit.

"I think you'd like to meet my brother Redfang," Moss told him when he finished. "He used to teach me battle moves all the time."

…**...**

The next morning, Bearclaw was ready to move out, and his horse was already feeling better; her pinto coat was shining in perfect health. The dark brown tabby tom leapt onto the mare's saddle, ready to take off. But Bearclaw had to wait because the family wanted to see him off.

When the family arrived, Abby mewed while giving him a basket, "Here. This'll get you through several meals if you get hungry."

But just before Bearclaw could tell her a thank-you, a loud sound was heard from the distance. They looked through some dust rising up to see that the big gray tom from the day before was riding towards the family at high speed on his horse. The other warriors were following him on their horses.

"What does Clawtalon and his gang want now?" Marston meowed with worry.

Bearclaw growled lowly, "I think those bastards want trouble."

…**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

…**...**

As the pack of EarthClan warriors rode towards them on their horses, Bearclaw felt the fur on his neck bristle with rage. He had no idea what these cats wanted, but he knew why they had come here: to cause trouble. If they wanted to pick on this family, he would meet them with fangs and claws as ferocious as fire.

The miniature ponies began to make whinnying noises as the EarthClan warrior cats and their horses arrived; along with the ponies, the white rooster began crowing in a territorial way. Then they stopped on time just in front of Bearclaw and the family of loners. Bearclaw's own horse whinnied in fear as the other horses blocked her way.

"What do you want, Clawtalon?" Marston growled at the gray tom.

Clawtalon flicked his ears lazily at him. "We just wanted to come and tell you some news. Your son Redfang's squad had been captured along with your son." As Marston gaped at him in horror and Abby wailed, the gray cat went on, "Wanna hear of what FireClan did to its last prisoners?"

"Yep," the other gray cat meowed. "Smeared coals all over their pelts to make them smell like FireClan." He paused to spit at Marston's paws as he continued, "Then they shoved them to the battle zone and stood by while the prisoners' guts were ripped out from their bodies."

"Watch your mouths, you gory bastards!" Marston snarled, fur bristling with rage.

Clawtalon glared down at the pale gray tabby tom, unsheathed his claws, and leapt down from his horse to attack. However, enraged at this injustice, Bearclaw leaped down from his horse and blocked the attack, pinning Clawtalon to the ground and swiping above his left eye. Clawtalon replied with a swipe to the scar, but Bearclaw dodged the attack and proceeded to rake his hind legs with his back claws.

But Clawtalon pushed him off as his wounds bled and leapt back onto his horse. "Why waste your time with them and wallowing in the mud, stranger?" he snarled at Bearclaw before he and his warriors rode off on their horses.

But as the warriors rode off, Bearclaw could remember another part of his past as clear as cool water.

…**...**

_Bearkit and Frostkit rolled around in the grass together as they played a game called Tackle the Bear. Sometimes, these two kits could get along if they weren't trying to tick each other off with tricks or insults. As Bearkit pinned Frostkit down, his sister swiped a sheathed paw at his ear and slipped away, laughing. Bearkit giggled as he gave chase and pursued her into the FireClan palace._

_Suddenly, something made Bearkit stop and turn around to see his mother sitting there. He was shocked to see Bearheart weeping, tears leaking from her amber eyes as she read another letter pinned by her paws; a gray servant was stepping backwards. Frostkit padded over and was just about to tell Bearkit to come and play. But when she saw her mother weeping, she stopped._

"_Mama, what's wrong?" Bearkit asked his mother as he padded closer._

_Bearheart turned around to face her kits. "Your uncle Irontail lost his son. Wolfcloud was killed in the battle of BoulderClan."_

…**...**

Bearclaw gave a sigh and dipped his head down, hoping that his cousin was watching him from StarClan. He had heard that Irontail once visited StarClan's territory to find his son, but there was no sign of the dark gray tom. Despite that, Bearclaw was certain that his uncle's son was there; like his father, Wolfcloud had been a faithful Clan warrior.

He gave a snarl and glared up to where Clawtalon and his pack had vanished. He couldn't wait to make those cats pay for discouraging them. Marston was trying to comfort Abby while Moss was trembling under their paws.

"W-What's going to happen to R-Redfang?" Moss mewled.

Marston gave a sigh and ruffled his head fur with his forepaw. "I'll go down to the front and try to find Redfang. Then I'll bring him back."

At that, he gave a loving lick to his mate and kit before leaping away and racing off to where the EarthClan warriors ran off to. But Abby called back to him, so the pale gray tom gave a sigh and sauntered back to his family. Bearclaw wished he could help this family out, but there seemed to be nothing that he could do.

_I guess they're in the paws of StarClan._

Sniffling sounds made the large dark tabby turn to see Moss creeping to him, sniffing sadly. The empty feelings of being alone made Bearclaw pad over and give him a lick on the head.

"Will you stay when my dad leaves?" Moss mewed as he looked up into his golden eyes.

Sympathetically, Bearclaw patted him on the head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I have to move on." Deciding to give him something, Bearclaw took the diamond dagger he got from Irontail and handed it to him.

"You can have this if you like. Read the engraving."

Moss received the dagger, turned it over, and unsheathed it. "_'Made in EarthClan_."'

Quickly, Bearclaw corrected him, "Not that side. Read the other side."

"Okay." Moss turned it over and read, "_'Give it all of your might.'_"

Bearclaw ruffled the kit's head fur one more time before calling his horse and leaping onto her. Giving her the command, Bearclaw managed to give the pinto mare the command to go from a trot to a gallop. As he rode into the distance, he looked back to see that Moss was gazing sadly after him, a miniature pony whinnying behind him. The big dark brown tabby tom wished that their paths would cross one day like old friends.

While he rode, more memories haunted him.

…**...**

_Since he had received the dagger from his uncle, Bearpaw was careful while playing with it and never parted from it; he and Frostpaw were apprentices now. Unlike Frostpaw, who hated her gift from her uncle, Bearpaw loved his very much…but not as much as he loved his family and Clan. He had heard tales of early TigerClan warriors using dagger-like teeth in combat against predators, LeopardClan, or LionClan._

_Frostpaw was watching him, disapproval in her yellow eyes. Bearpaw, meanwhile, was faking his death and falling over in a pretend death-like pose._

"_Why waste your time playing with daggers?" Frostpaw asked him. "You're not even that good."_

_Feeling his pride hurt, Bearpaw leapt to his paws, his cheeks glowing pink. "Why don't you put an orange on your head, then? Then you'll see how good I am!"_

"_Whatever," Frostpaw retorted. Then she got up and swaggered to him. "Oh, by the way, I heard Uncle Irontail is coming home."_

"_Really?" Bearpaw squeaked happily. "Does that mean he won the battle?"_

_Frostpaw sneered, "No. It's because he's a quitter _and_ a loser."_

_Bearpaw let out a snarl of anger. How dare his sister say that kind of mean stuff to her kin!_ "_Why do you say that?" he growled. "Uncle Irontail is no quitter!"_

"_Uh-huh," Frostpaw replied. "He found out that his son just got killed, so he just quit." She sat with her back against a pillar and mewed on, "A true warrior would stay and burn BoulderClan to the ground and kill all their warriors. A true warrior would not lose in a battle and cry over his lost son like a sad pathetic little kittypet."_

_Now Bearpaw couldn't stand by and let her insult their closest kin. "How do _you_ know how a warrior _should_ act, huh? I think he's grieving over Wolfcloud, knowing his son's gone…forever," he added sadly. "A real warrior can spare some time to grieve."_

_Suddenly, a shadow flew over the two kits, turning Bearpaw's dark brown fur to a darker brown. He feared at first that an eagle had broken through the palace windows and decided to steal the kits, but he shook the thought away. Bearpaw knew FireClan cats were really great in fending off eagles to guard their elders and kits as well as their queens. But it turned out that Bearheart had arrived, recovering from what happened._

_Automatically, Bearpaw dashed forward and pressed his broad face into his mother soft chest fur, relishing in feeling safe. But he saw Frostpaw not making any move towards her; instead, she just sat there and watched with jealousy._

"_Your father wishes to let Thistlestar see your FireBending moves," Bearheart meowed. "Groom yourselves, hurry up."_

"_Thistlestar?" Frostpaw snorted. "Can't we call him Grandfather instead of his leader name? Besides, he's not really the great leader he used to be. Someone might take up the position of leader really soon." With relish, she added, "I hope that old bastard retires soon."_

_But Bearheart cuffed her daughter lightly on the ear and hissed, "Watch your language, young one! And that was a rude thing to say about your grandfather! He is our leader, and a leader's word is law!"_

_Frostkit rolled her eyes and padded away, leaving Bearheart to mutter, "Great StarClan, what is wrong with that 'paw?"_

…**...**

_Bearpaw, Frostpaw, and Bearheart were now in Thistlestar's chamber, where their leader and the young cats' father were waiting. The leader's chamber was filled with dark red and orange decorative pillars holding up the roof. The center passageway leading to the platform was clear. The leader of FireClan was sitting on his throne up the platform, which was separated from the rest of the hall by a trench of fire._

_Daring to do this, Bearpaw looked over at his father to catch his eye. Darkflame was surrounded by a dark purple-black aura that covered his fur, and yet he could see his amber eyes. Eyes like his, but with a colder look._

"_Now, kits," Thistlestar meowed as he told his grandkits to sit. "Tell me about how your great-grandfather Shadowstar won the Battle of the Burning Rain."_

_Trying to remember, Bearpaw stammered, "Um…he won because…"_

"_Because even though Shadowstar knew his Clan was outnumbered, he managed to calculate his advantages. The enemy was downwind, there was a famine across the land, and the droplets of the Burning Rain burned the pelts of the enemies. And their defenses were quickly and brutally burned down to a cinder within minutes." Frostpaw mewed this so rapidly that it made Bearkit feel stupid._

"_Correct," Darkflame meowed. Bearkit felt jealous, for his father never spoke to him like that. "Now show your grandfather the moves you showed me. Including the Air Uppercut attack."_

_So Frostpaw stood up and executed a sequence of FireBending moves. Bearpaw could see his shadowy father's usual stony gaze turn to pride at his daughter's recital. Bearpaw looked on, an indeterminate look on his face; he wasn't sure if his FireBending powers were as good as hers. He wanted to be as good of a warrior as Darkflame was presently._

_When Frostpaw was done, Thistlestar purred, "Good. A true prodigy, she is. Like her ancestor, Frostwater the Proud, whom she is named after."_

_Frostpaw dipped her head in a humble way to her kin before sitting next to her brother. Then, to his dismay, she whispered in a sneering way, "You'll never catch up."_

_Offended, Bearpaw wanted show her what he could do. So he stood up and mewed to Thistlestar, "Excuse me, sir? I'd like to show my moves too. I'd like to show you what I learned."_

_But while Thistlestar nodded, Bearpaw could see the tiny smile on Darkflame's face turn into a frown. Not only was Bearpaw performing to impress Thistlestar, but he also wanted to show his father what a good warrior he could be._

_So Bearpaw cleared his throat and tried to run through the same moves as Frostpaw did but with less skill. After a few moments, he coughed a bit on the routine and fell down on his bottom. But he recovered and quickly finished the routine as Bearheart looked on in concern; Frostpaw, for the meantime, looked at her brother's failure with pleasure. Bearheart rushed over to him and covered her son with loving motherly licks._

_Instead of feeling happy, Bearpaw felt even more dejected than ever. He had failed to impress his grandfather and father, but he was a little happy that Bearheart was supporting him. But he saw that Darkflame was now glaring at him as if he wanted to tear his guts out._

"_I'm sorry, Bearheart," Bearpaw mewed. "I failed."_

"_Don't worry, my little bear," Bearheart purred as she continued licking her son's head fur. "I loved watching you perform. It's who you are." As Bearpaw looked up at her with surprise, she added, "You are one who keeps fighting even though it's hard."_

_All of a sudden, Thistlestar's angry meow made Bearpaw whimper. "Darkflame, enough. Tell me what you want." With a dismissive tail flick, he added, "Everyone else may leave…except for you, Darkflame."_

_All other three cats nodded and started to pad out of the chamber. But when Bearheart was out of sight for a bit, Bearpaw felt something drag him back by the tail. He saw that it was Frostpaw, trying to drag him behind some curtains._

"_What're you doing?" he hissed to her. "A hunting patrol might go hunting soon! I wanna go with them…"_

_But Frostpaw hissed, "Shhh! Listen!"_

_The two apprentices ran behind the curtains and peeked out. Darkflame was now addressing his smoky-gray father._

"_Father, you must know this by now; since Wolfcloud has been killed, Irontail's bloodline has come to an end. After his son's death, my older brother abandoned the siege of BoulderClan, and who knows when he will return home to his kin and to his own dear Clanmates? But I am here, Father, and my own children are still alive."_

"_Just say what you want," the smoky-gray leader retorted._

_Darkflame lowered himself to the ground and meowed, "Father, take away Irontail's right as the firstborn son. I am the most humble warrior in all of FireClan, more humble than any Clan cat on the face of this Earth. I am ready to serve you and our Clanmates even at the cost of my life. Let me be your deputy instead of Irontail."_

_Bearpaw gasped in shock while Frostkit giggled with glee. He couldn't believe his father could ask of such a horrible thing. He had heard that Bluestar of the ancient ThunderClan became the deputy because she gave her kits up to her RiverClan mate, Oakheart. But that was to only make sure that an evil cat named Thistleclaw wouldn't become leader instead of a good cat like her. But what Darkflame was doing was wrong._

_Perhaps Thistlestar thought so too, for he lashed his tail angrily and roared, "How dare you tell me to deceive Irontail! My firstborn son! Just after the death of his only beloved son!" The fire in the trenches rose up into the frame from below, mirroring his rage. "I think Irontail has suffered enough; I won't make him suffer! But as for you, Darkflame, your punishment has just begun!"_

_Darkflame didn't recoil at that; instead the young 'senior' warrior lowered his yellow gaze and muttered something Bearpaw couldn't hear. And he didn't hear it because he ran off from the leader's chamber, scared of what his leader would do to Darkflame. Was he going to skin him alive or just burn him? Or would he leave him for the buzzards to eat?_

_But he failed to see the evil sneer on Frostpaw's face._

**...**

Bearpaw was dreaming of chasing through StarClan's hunting grounds and (in this good dream) he was all grown up. He was Bearspirit, loyal FireClan warrior, and he was the greatest warrior cat of all time. Bearkit wanted to be the best warrior his parents could be proud of; Darkflame wouldn't be disappointed in him.

But suddenly, he heard evil laughter and he could see Frostpaw, all grown up now and her jaws soaked in blood, standing over the dead body of their mother. Stepping back, Bearpaw turned around and fled through StarClan, which was turning into a dark forest filled with dark purple-glowing toadstools, dark mist, and the scariest and most demonic cats he had ever seen. Then he saw a large ginger-&-white she-cat pounce at him from one of the bushes and pin him down.

"Surprise, little warrior!" she hissed in his ear. "About your desire to be the best warrior…that'll never happen! I will make sure of that!"

"W-Who are you?" Bearpaw squealed with horror.

The she-cat's demon-like yellow eyes glittered as she snarled, "Oh, you don't know? Well, it doesn't matter, runt. What matters is that you were always destined to be the greatest warrior in FireClan. Your path was marked down by the stars countless moons ago." With a sneer, she went on, "Unfortunately for you, your destiny shall be halted for rogues like you. But who cares about destiny except fools?"

And she let him go instead of hurting him, leaving him to run off…and leading him into the figure of his evil-looking father.

_Bearpaw woke up, panting like a tired dog as if he had been running the whole time. What really frightened him the most was how scary his father looked in his dream. Besides, what did the big ginger-&-white queen mean by not letting him be a warrior? Every kit and apprentice deserved to become either a warrior or a medicine cat; their hearts would tell them what to do._

_A shuffling sound and a door opening made Bearpaw squeak as he jumped out of his thoughts. He looked up to see that Frostpaw had wandered into the apprentices' with a cruel smile on her young face. Bearpaw didn't like the look on her face at all._

_Then she chanted in a singsong voice, "Dad's gonna kill you. No really," she added with a leer on her face. "He really IS gonna kill you."_

_Bearpaw growled, "Shut up. You can't fool me."_

"_All right._ _Fine. Don't trust me, but I heard everything. I heard Grandfather say that Father's sentence must match his sin," the black she-cat explained. Then, imitating Thistlestar's voice, she went on, "'You must suffer the death of a firstborn son…by killing _your own_ firstborn son!'"_

"Liar!"_ Bearpaw wailed. This couldn't be true._

_But Frostpaw went on more unkindly as she sat down on his nest. "What? I'm only doing this for the best. For the sake of our Clan. And I have an idea. Maybe an EarthClan family can pick you up and adopt you? Maybe _then_ you won't feel so unwanted!"_

_With tears in his eyes, Bearpaw backed away from her and wailed, "Stop it! You're lying! Dad will never do that to me!"_

"_Do what to you, Bearpaw?"_

_Bearheart had returned with a dead turkey at her paws. She had been out on a daily patrol and brought back some fresh-kill._

"_Oh, nothing," Frostpaw mewed innocently, but she shot an evil look at her brother._

_But Bearheart had seen it, for she stalked forward, herded her away from Bearpaw, and scolded her sharply, "That's enough, Frostpaw. We need to have a talk about your behavior. Now."_

_At that, she nudged her out of the den and turned to give her dark brown tabby son a sympathetic look; then the light brown tabby queen left. But this didn't feel good at all. Now he could feel the evil-looking queen from the dark forest stalking around him and telling him that his sister would always be right and he would always be wrong._

_Wanting her to go away, Bearpaw rocked back and forth in his nest and whimpered, "Frostpaw always lies…Frostpaw always lies…"_

**...**

"Frostpaw always lies..."

Bearclaw murmured the same words over and over again in his sleep. The dark brown tabby tom was still certain that the ginger-&-white she-cat from the Dark Forest was beside him, taunting him cruelly about having no family. Many times, he had tried to ignore her and think of happier thoughts like Irontail would do; he even thought of sipping cream. But the Dark Forest queen would make negative comments on that.

Waking up from his nap, Bearclaw stretched himself out on the smooth rock and looked up at the sky. It was already late afternoon, and he planned on going hunting, or he could find crowfood to nibble on. Whatever he planned on doing, he decided to do it anyways. Spotting a mouse eating some sunflower seeds, Bearclaw got up and began stalking towards it without being heard, seen, or felt through the ground.

_Maybe I can enjoy being a rogue for a while. Maybe I have a different destiny._

But the sound of a rolling wagon suddenly made the mouse look up, see Bearclaw, and dash away. Bearclaw gave a hiss as he chased it for a short while before it ran into a burrow under a rock. Hissing with defeat, the dark tabby turned to glare at the maker of the noise, but it was Abby riding towards him on a horse-drawn wagon. The ginger she-cat looked very dismayed.

"What's wrong?" Bearclaw asked as he hurried over.

"You...you have to help us! It's Moss!"

Bearclaw's heart stopped for a moment. What happened to the plucky young kit?

Abby's voice choked as she went on, "When Marston left to look for Redfang, those thugs from town came back. When they told us to hunt for their food, Moss pulled a d-dagger on them! I-I don't even know how he got a dagger!" Her voice rose to a screech as she wailed, "Then they took him away! They said that even though he was four moons old, he should still be a warrior; he's too young! We barely know you, but…please help us! Please don't let my son be killed!"

Then the ginger she-cat broke down and began sobbing. Bearclaw turned away for a moment to angrily curse at himself. He was the one who gave him the dagger and he was the one to tell him to keep it. _You fox-hearted piece of shit! Look what you've done! _he roared at himself._ It's your fault Moss got taken away in the first place!_

_That's right, young rogue. It _IS_ your fault._

Bearclaw turned around to see that the ginger-&-white Dark Forest cat was still with him; she was blaming him also and making the situation worse. But he managed to push her away from him; now wasn't the right time to think about blaming whoever. Now was the time for action.

"I'll get your kit back."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Fury ruffled over Bearclaw's long dark brown pelt as he remembered the injustice done by the bullying EarthClan warriors. As he rode the pinto mare down to the main village, he could feel the ginger-&-white Dark Forest she-cat still blaming him for losing Moss to the EarthBenders. But despite knowing that he shared some of the blame, he couldn't give in to the bleakness.

The sun was setting, and it cast a golden shade over the scenery. He rode beneath a tall paifang gate that looked like it could be straight from the Island of Ga'Hoole itself. When he got to the center of the town, he saw Moss locked in a cage and surrounded by large EarthClan warriors. Now a lion-like rage burned inside of Bearclaw's chest, ready to tear apart these cats to save his new friend.

He let out an ear-splitting yowl, which made Moss look around from the warriors.

"I knew he'd come back!" the brown tabby kit called happily.

As if by command, Clawtalon and his cats emerged from the shadows, hissing at Moss to shut up before glaring at the stranger. Still framed by the light from the sun, Bearclaw leapt down from his mare and took off his coolie hat, revealing the place where his ear was torn off. The former FireClan warrior and Clawtalon glared at one another, the latter backed by his warriors.

Bearclaw took a pawstep forward and growled darkly, "Let the kit go, or I'll tear you to shreds."

Instead, Clawtalon laughed in a mocking way before fixing Bearclaw with his menacing glare. "Who the hell do you think you are? Telling us what to do like you're leader of EarthClan?"

"That's not important," Bearclaw spat, the sun behind him and his horse. "What's more important is this: You're not warriors. You're tyrants. You're just sponges, soaking up money while abusing your power...mostly over she-cats and their kits. You don't want Moss in your army. You're just sick bastards who torment a family who just lost a son to the Great War."

There was a moment of silence as Clawtalon gaped at Bearclaw with surprise...then his surprise turned to anger. One ginger cat even padded over to the large gray cat and hissed, "You gonna take that lying down? You wanna teach that asshole a lesson?"

The gray warrior at Clawtalon's left unsheathed his claws, bared his fangs, and stalked forward. But Bearclaw pulled back as the warrior pounced, then he unsheathed his claws and sank them into the stomach of the charging ruffian. The warrior was knocked back, getting up and rushing off. Another gray cat ran at Bearclaw with claws unsheathed, but the dark tabby tom blocked him and then brought him to the ground by grabbing him by the throat and smashing him down. This thug weakly got up and ran away as well.

The last cat, a ginger cat, charged Bearclaw with his teeth bared, but Bearclaw shoved his paw at his fangs, breaking them with a blow. The brute got up with blood dripping from his shattered fangs. While Moss watched on and laughed with delight, in the crowd that had gathered, Abby was among them, amazed at what she had seen.

Clawtalon, made of harsher stuff than his warriors, drew a large war hammer from the side and adopted a Bending stance. In turn, Bearclaw drew his broadswords into his jaws, just like he did when he was the Red Demon. Clawtalon slammed the ground with his hammer, raised a rock, and hit it with the same hammer. It flew at Bearclaw, who shattered it with his blades. Furiously, the big gray tom repeated the move twice in rapid succession. Bearclaw destroyed one rock, but he was hit in the belly by the other. He recovered quickly and ran at Clawtalon with his blades.

He could hear some cats murmuring about this fight.

"Give 'im a left! Give 'im a left!" a pale brown elder was calling to Bearclaw.

"It's not a clawing battle!" an old white cat hissed to him.

The pale brown elder snapped back at her, "He's got a left blade, right?"

Bearclaw continued rushing his opponent, slashing from left to right while blood sprayed onto the ground. He chopped at several more rocks, but he was again thrown backwards by one that got through. He staggered awkwardly, trying to regain his balance.

"Behind you!" the pale brown tom called.

"Look out!" Moss screeched.

Clawtalon switched his hammer with his claws and smashed the ground, each time raising some rocks and hurling them at the banished warrior. Finally, with a mighty blow to the ground, the gray tom rose up a shock wave of earth and rock that travelled along the ground between him and his opponent. A huge rock erupted from the ground as the tremor got near Bearclaw, striking him in the chest and throwing him to the ground. The crowd gasped as Bearclaw fell in the dust, an expression of pain on his face as blood welled up from his wound.

While the crowd called to him, Bearclaw faded out a little.

**...**

_Deception, disgrace_

_Evil as plain as the scar on his face_

_Deception, disgrace_

_He asked for trouble the moment he came_

_As Bearpaw snuggled in his nest, hoping to go on a hunting patrol the next dawn, he heard a cat slip into the apprentices' den. He looked up wearily and looked around. But in the next moment, he was now looking into his mother's beautiful amber eyes._

_"Mom?" he yawned._

_Bearheart's amber eyes were wet with tears as she smiled down weakly at him. "Listen carefully, my young wonderful son. Everything I've done...I've done to protect you." She pulled her son into a warm loving embrace. "Remember, my beloved Bearpaw..." she choked, "...never forget who you are, no matter how hard your path becomes."_

_At that, she let him go and padded out of the apprentices' den down the dark hall._

_Deception, disgrace_

_Evil as plain as the scar on his face_

_Deception, disgrace_

_He asked for trouble the moment he came_

**...**

_Born in grief, raised in hate_

_Help us to defy his fate_

_Let him run, let him live_

_But do not forget what we cannot forgive_

Bearclaw weakly opened his eyes and looked around while lying on the ground. The dust was now settling around him, but Clawtalon was now stalking towards him, his yellow eyes filled with triumph. Bearclaw grunted as the gray tom planted a forepaw on his throat, unsheathing his claws.

Moss, who was still locked up in the cage, whimpered, "Get up...please."

Finally strengthened by the kit's faith, Bearclaw opened his eyes and let out a roar of fury. He kicked Clawtalon off of him, FireBending a circle of fire around him as he got up. Clawtalon padded backwards with fright, dropping his hammer and sheathing his claws. Bearclaw fired a fire blast at Clawtalon that him full in the stomach. The thug was shot backwards and fell to the ground.

Bearclaw finished getting up, wreathed in fire with an enraged demonic look on his face. Moss looked on in surprise, his eyes now widened with fright.

Clawtalon recovered and got back up from his spell. He assumed a Bending stance, but Bearclaw charged at him, sending many bolts of fire from his blade in Clawtalon's direction. One hit him in the throat, and the thug was thrown back into the wall of a nearby building. Part of it collapsed onto him after he impacted, his back legs now broken from the fallen wall. Bearclaw padded up to the dying cat, his claws unsheathed and his teeth bared into an ugly snarl.

"W-W-Who are y-y-you?" Clawtalon choked as his breathing became shorter.

Bearclaw licked his lips and snarled "My name is Bearclaw, son of FireClan leader Darkstar and Bearheart. I am also a warrior of FireClan."

He sheathed his claws and bit down onto Clawtalon's throat, making the large gray tom wail, "Please don't kill me! I didn't mean to hurt these cats!"

"Sorry, but your bullshit won't work on me," Bearclaw growled through his mouthful of fur.

Then, as if by demand, the large dark brown tabby tom brought his fangs down onto Clawtalon's throat; he wanted to give this cat a pain for tormenting Moss and his family, who had lost their oldest son Redfang. He bit down onto his enemy's neck so hard that he felt the jugular vein burst from under his teeth, and blood sprayed all over his face. The gray cat howled his agony, but that was stopped when blood bubbled into his throat. Then he fell back against the ground, his yellow eyes glazed over and staring at nothing. Clawtalon was dead, killed by Darkstar's son.

After he finished killing this bully, Bearclaw looked up at the crowd, his muzzle dark red with blood. He was amazed that the cats around him looked shaken and were muttering to themselves while Moss looked horrified. Bearclaw had broken rule fourteen in the Warrior Code again; to kill another cat was wrong, and only honor would be given to those who did not murder.

"Deceiver!" the old pale brown tom growled, pointing his muzzle at the dark tabby. "You're not a warrior! You're a rogue! Your father burned and disowned you!"

Bearclaw felt shame burn up in his face but he ignored it as he stared around at the crowd, not a friendly face in sight. They were now shocked and angry at him. Sighing, he padded over to the corpse of Clawtalon, whose stink was now attracting flies. He bent down and took the dagger that the thug took from Moss back.

Ignoring the Dark Forest cat's taunting, he padded over to where Abby was freeing her kit from his cage. After that, she moved in front of Moss as Bearclaw approached them, shielding him.

_He is not one of us_

_He has never been one of us_

_He is not part of us_

_Not our kind_

"Don't you dare take another step forward!" the ginger she-cat hissed.

Bearclaw obeyed, but he dragged the dagger he had in front of him, laying it out onto the dusty blood-stained ground. He looked up to see if Moss would accept, but the kit's eyes were filled with rage and hatred towards him.

Bearclaw crouched low like an apprentice scolded by their mentor. "Please, Moss. You can have this. Aren't we friends?"

"No!" Moss spat angrily. "Get away from me, FireClan cat!"

_Someone once lied to us_

_Now we're not so blind_

_For we knew he would do what he's done_

_And he'll know that he'll never be one of us_

Bearclaw was very shocked about how this had happened: first he had saved the kit when he had come to town, now this. Now he was being banished again...this time from a town that somehow welcomed him. There was anger on the faces of every cat; there was not any face in the crowd that looked friendly. Giving in, he gave a sigh, grabbed the dagger in his jaws, and backed away, trying hard to look away from the anger on the faces of Abby and Moss.

_You see, Bearclaw? _the orange-&-white she-cat's sneer echoed in his mind. _That's what you get for being so willing to help all the time! Got anything to say in your defense?_

_Shut up, you old bitch! _Bearclaw argued mentally with her. _It's not my fault! I haven't done anything wrong!_

The Dark Forest cat's voice sweetened to a purr as she hissed, _You're right; how silly of me. It's not your fault. It's these _villagers'_ faults! The next time you come here again, kill them all and make them pay for what they did to you! I've done just that to ThunderClan and RiverClan when they exiled me for betraying them and letting my kits drown, so you get to do the same! How does that sound?_

But Bearclaw ignored her and made some preparations before leaping back onto his pinto mare, which was neighing at the reaction of the battle. As he leaped onto his horse, the former FireClan cat was once more launched into his memories.

_He is not one of us..._

**...**

_Young Bearpaw leapt out from his nest and raced down the hall as he called for his mother. He was hoping he could join up with Bearheart on a hunting patrol or even the dawn patrol, but she didn't say anything about that. Instead, she had meowed something about protecting him from something, but he didn't remember._

"_Bearheart! Bearheart, where are you?"_

_Suddenly, a familiar black apprentice stepped out from behind a pillar as he passed. Frostpaw was blocking his way with a sneer on her face as she held his diamond dagger in her jaws._

_Turning to her, he asked urgently, "Where's Bearheart?"_

"_How should I know? Am I my mother's keeper?" Frostpaw shrugged. Then she added with a sneer, "And by the way, Grandfather died last night."_

"_It's not funny, Frostpaw!" Bearpaw hissed, refusing to believe that Thistlestar had died. "You're such a sick cat! And I want my dagger back!"_

_He leapt towards her, wanting to get his dagger back and wanting to ask where Bearheart was at. But Frostpaw stepped out of the way, twirling it around in her jaws and pointing it at him. Then she sneered, "Who'll make me? Mom? I don't see the bitch anywhere."_

_Bearpaw hissed, swiped the dagger away from her, put it in its sheathe, and raced away outside the palace. He didn't want to think of his mother leaving the Clan, not since she had two kits that had become apprentices. As he raced down the path in the garden, he recalled the times he and his mother would spend together at the Duck Pond and feed the mother duck and her ducklings. So he decided to go there and find her._

It's worth a try.

_But when he reached the Duck Pond, what he saw made him gasp in shock. The tiny ducklings from before were peeping pitifully and sadly as the messy broken body of their mother. And right before them was Darkflame. The black-aura tom was sitting in front of the bloody carcass of the mother duck, his ears and whiskers twitching slightly in the breeze._

"_Wh-where's Bearheart?" Bearpaw asked Darkflame._

_But his cold-hearted father didn't reply; he still had his back turned towards him. Bearpaw gazed down at the ground in despair and padded away, feeling that his mother did betray the Clan and left._

_Despite that, however, Bearpaw still loved his light brown tabby mother to no end. Contrasting to Frostpaw, who seemed to hate her mother, Bearpaw would always love Bearheart until the day he would join StarClan. But another worrying thought came; if she _did_ betray FireClan, then she wouldn't become a StarClan cat. For as far as he knew, he was afraid that his mother was dead._

**...**

_Bearpaw looked around a larger pool than the garden pond in a ceremonial plaza somewhere in the palace. It was completely packed with FireClan cats. As the FireClan Elder Sage spoke, the young dark brown tabby tom saw the golden coffin and the white FireClan Elder Sage presiding over the ceremony. Around the coffin stood the three remaining members of the royal family, including Darkflame, Frostpaw, and Bearpaw. They were all dressed in white capes._

_\ Irontail and his mate hadn't appeared at all for the ceremony. At first, Bearpaw thought that his uncle was being rude because of jealousy, but he banished it from his mind. There was no way in the world that Irontail would be jealous of his brother, even if he wasn't the deputy anymore. He was perhaps still grieving over his son and on his way home, but he had offered to be Bearpaw's mentor, much to Darkflame's disgust._

_The elder began speaking from Thistlestar's coffin, "Thistlestar, leader of FireClan for eleven years, you were our courageous leader in the Battle of Heavy Rains; our unrivaled conqueror of the Sweeping Hill shires, you were a great leader indeed. You were the father of Irontail, father of Darkflame, and father of two stillborn kittens, now in StarClan. You were the mate of Ironleaf, now a verified StarClan cat. You were the grandfather of Wolfcloud, now a StarClan cat, and grandfather of Bearpaw and Frostpaw."_

_The FireClan Elder Sage turned around and approached the coffin. He reached in with his paw and took the dead leader's crown; Bearpaw watched as Darkflame padded forward, his back to his kits. Bearpaw could see that Darkflame didn't have any sorrow in his gaze; he only had a look of triumph on his face._

"_We now lay you to rest. Go to StarClan swiftly now, Thistlestar, and walk with warriors."_

_The FireClan Elder Sage held the diadem above his head in his forepaws as two FireBenders on the left and right lit fire to the coffin. With the fire of the funeral bonfire burning behind him, the white FireClan Elder Sage crowned the new FireClan leader._

"_Since this was your dying wish, you are now succeeded by your second son." Then he put the diadem on Darkflame's head, whose face was still hidden. The elder padded to the side, saying, "Tonight, Darkflame shall go to the Moonhill and receive his nine lives and his leader name." Raising his voice, he called, "Darkstar! Darkstar!"_

_The new FireClan leader glared down at the dais from down below where the audience stood. As Darkstar stood up from being crowned, the audience bowed low and looked up as they chanted his name. Behind Darkstar, who was looking out over the enormous field below, was the clearing filled with his Clan._

_Behind him were Bearpaw and Frostpaw, wearing their white capes and bowing to their father. Frostpaw had her usual cruel grin while Bearpaw glanced over at his sister in fear, and then he looked ahead. He had no idea how much had passed, but he felt that things were going from bad to worse._

Please, StarClan! Don't let my father destroy the Clan!

He will one day, _the Dark Forest she-cat's voice growled to him. _And it'll be your fault! You hear me? YOUR FAULT!

**...**

_Deception_

_Disgrace_

The flashback ended as Bearclaw rode away from the village on his pinto horse, his round coolie hat back on his head. He was riding out of the village with either side of the street lined with cats of the village. An EarthClan flag was flying in the breeze on the left of the village gate. Bearclaw looked back to see the villagers, including Moss and his mother, but they were now looking upon him with dull hatred.

_Deception_

_Disgrace_

Bearclaw dared to look around and meow, "I managed to save you today...and this is the thanks I get. The gift of being exiled...again." He closed his eyes and sighed, opening them to say, "Well, that's fine with me; it's my fault. But remember: you can never make someone feel ashamed of the cat they are today. I just...I just hope we cross paths one day."

The villagers just glared at him.

Giving a final sigh of defeat, Bearclaw turned his mare around and rode into the sunset. Now his future was looking bleak without any family, friends, or allies. There was no help for him now; thanks to Mapleshade, he was alone.

_Deception..._

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat12: This took quite a short while to re-edit for the remake.**

**Zuko: It's all right with me. And I still hate what happened here...but what's done is done. And I better go. Mai will be wondering what happened while I was away.**

**AvatarCat12: All right then; it was good working with you again. See you later. (He and Zuko shake hands before the latter leaves) So those who review this chapter will get virtual pizzas of their choice or ice cream of their choice. I allow constructive criticism, but I do NOT allow flames. And here's the preview for The Hunt.**

**Preview: With a new cat on the team, it looks like things are getting good. But Nightpaw is already fighting with her new mentor about cooperating. But with all the tension going on, a mysterious machine keeps chasing them wherever they go. Will Goldwing and his friends get away in time?**

**See ya next time!**


	9. The Hunt

**AvatarCat12: There's just nine more days until my birthday! I'm really excited!**

**Aang: Are you? Then Katara and I'll be planning on getting a gift for you.**

**AvatarCat12: ...should you have told me that right now?**

**Aang: ...monkey-feathers! I meant for it to be a surprise!**

**Katara: It's all right, Aang. I'd curse myself too if I did that. Now let's continue.**

**Disclaimer: Bryke and Erin Hunter own all rights to Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats.**

**Summary: With a new cat on the team, it looks like things are getting good. But Nightpaw is already fighting with her new mentor about cooperating. But with all the tension going on, a mysterious machine keeps chasing them wherever they go. Will Goldwing and his friends get away in time?**

**Uploading Date: April 20, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**The Hunt**_

The sun was slowly setting over a range of hills with pine trees and a creek spread out before it. Goldwing, Archie, and the pack, now including Nightpaw, were sitting in a dried up section of the creek. There was a bunch of white fur around Archie's clawed feet. Goldwing was sitting in the basket and passing a border stick down to Ashfeather. Silverheart was just padding around Archie's head to the same side. Nightpaw was looking around her, yet she couldn't see. Tobias, meanwhile, had caught a mouse and was digging into it happily.

Since Nightpaw had become Silverheart's apprentice, she had taken well to the life of a Clan cat. She had learned how to hunt and fight while learning the basics of battle moves; there was no trace of the kittypet in her now. Nightpaw hadn't failed to keep her promise on being Goldwing's EarthBending mentor.

"This camp is great!" Nightpaw called to the older warriors. Her claws sunk into the white fur as she mewed, "I love the way this grass feels under my paws!"

She could hear Ashfeather reply, "Nightpaw, that's not grass. That's Archie shedding his pelt."

"Oh shit! That's gross!"

The three other Clan cats turned around to see that Silverheart was perhaps rearing onto her hind legs. She clearly didn't like the way the fur felt under her paws, and Nightpaw held back a laugh. Cats could shed their pelts like dogs and bears could, but at first she hadn't believed that dragons had fur or could shed.

"It's not gross; it's natural for dragons and cats," Goldwing meowed. "You know...rebirth of a new season, plants blooming, birds singing..." Ashfeather caught and ate a small bluebird that landed on Goldwing's head "...bees buzzing, and Archie shedding!"

"Yeah. I love newleaf. It's so beautiful," Silverheart sighed happily. But that was cut off when Archie sneezed loudly, and fur fell from his body. She was coughing, and waving her front legs around to stop Archie from covering her in fur even more. "Dammit, Archie! Stop!"

"Silverheart, it's not that bad," Ashfeather told her, standing up to reveal piled fur on his head in the shape of Tallstar's long tail. "This fur can be fun to play with! It can make a nice hairstyle!"

Goldwing added with fur covering his entire pelt, "And it makes a good extra pelt!"

The two tomcats began laughing together, but Nightpaw could sense Silverheart not amused by this. Out of the three Clan warriors she greeted, the silver she-cat seemed to be the most serious; she could sometimes not be amused by jokes. Nightpaw wished her new mentor could crack a smile once in a while.

Suddenly having an idea, she felt around for a patch of Asian Dragon fur until she found a fresh patch. The small black cat laid down into the heavy fur until her underbelly was covered by the stuff. To add some humor, she started scooting around like a dog getting rid of some bothersome fleas until her behind was covered with it. She was doing this to try and make her mentor laugh.

"I'm just glad we have another she-cat with us," Silverheart mewed, licking the furs off her own fur. "You two are as nasty as two warthogs in the mud."

As if on cue, Nightpaw slipped out from between the two toms, rolled over to expose her belly, and purred, "I hope someone's got a pair of scissors ready. I'm as hairy as a beaver!"

**(Author's Note: Figure this one out.)**

All three of them laughed very hard until Goldwing let loose an AirBending sneeze, thrusting him backwards into Archie's leg and then falling face down on the ground. He lifted his head, but Nightpaw felt his fur to know that he had a large mass of fur sticking jaggedly up on his back like a Spinosaurus. The three Clan cats began laughing again.

At first, Nightpaw was frustrated to not hear Silverheart laughing. But she was happy to hear her laughing with her other friends. Now she had gotten her silver-pelted mentor laughing for once; if she could keep this up, then Silverheart could be one of the funniest cats she could ever meet.

**...**

Nightpaw lifted her muzzle to the air, opened up her jaws, and drank in the scents around her. Ashfeather was carrying firewood, Goldwing was setting up the tent dens by using AirBending, and Silverheart was swirling some water in a large pot with her paw. To her embarrassment, they all finally stopped and looked over at her.

Nightpaw herself laid lazily against a rock with her tail behind her, her front legs were laid out on her chest, and a piece of straw was delicately hanging from her mouth. She just sat there and lazed around while the other cats worked their tails off. But she could feel irritation rippling over Silverheart's pelt like a wave across the lake; before she knew it, the silver she-cat was facing her apprentice.

"Hey Nightpaw," Silverheart meowed politely. "In a Clan, Clanmates work together to care for those who can't hunt or fight for themselves. Here with us, we divide up the work when we set up our camp."

Her apprentice yawned. "Don't worry about me. I'm cool to go."

Silverheart went on a little edgily, "I'm just saying. Um...a cat could fetch water or fresh-kill, or they could set up the dens or start a campfire." A flutter of wings told them that Tobias returned with a small rabbit. "You see? Even Tobias does some work!"

"Silverheart, thanks for the info," Nightpaw interrupted her as she spat the straw out. "But I can carry my own burden. I don't need a fire, I caught my own fresh-kill, and I got a tent den set up!" To show her, she sat upright and EarthBended a tent den made entirely out of stone.

"For you, that's great," Silverheart meowed, sounding more irritated. "But we still got to..."

Getting defensive, Nightpaw growled, "Well, I don't understand all Clan life yet! So what the hell is your problem?"

Silverheart sounded as if she wanted to argue more. But instead, her mentor sighed, "Forget it."

As a reply, Nightpaw shrugged and padded into her tent den, sealing the entrance up.

**...**

Just a little while later, the three Clan warriors were almost finished with setting up camp. But before they could relax, they had one thing to do. Silverheart knew Goldwing and Ashfeather were used to getting Archie's saddle ready for the night.

Goldwing was sitting on Archie's head while Ashfeather waited on the earth. Using AirBending, the golden AirClan warrior lifted his dragon's basket off his back and attempted to lower it down to Ashfeather. But before that could be done, Goldwing accidentally dropped it on him, causing him to yowl.

"Sorry!" Goldwing yelped as he leapt down to the dark gray tabby tom.

"It's fine," Ashfeather panted, getting back to his paws.

Silverheart had been watching them the entire time while making dinner and was reminded of Nightpaw. She saw her apprentice was right; she didn't know much about the Clan life yet, and she just needed time to adjust to this new life. The silver WaterClan warrior didn't want their friendship to rot away if they argued too much.

_I should apologize to her._

Smiling at the thought, she got up, looked towards her apprentice's den, and padded over to her. Nightpaw was gnawing on the meat-covered bone of a rabbit before looking up at her mentor.

"Hey Nightpaw," she mewed as gently as she could. "Sorry about earlier. I think...since we're all tired, we're just trying to piss each other off."

Nightpaw flicked her tail at her and replied, "Yeah, you DO sound rather tired."

Suddenly irritated at that, Silverheart growled, "I meant ALL of us."

"Anyways, good-night," Nightpaw meowed. The small black cat spun around and padded inside her den, sealing it shut.

Ashamed that her anger got the best of her, Silverheart muttered feebly, "Good-night."

**...**

Nightpaw woke up to lap at some water that was in a stream coursing behind her tent. After that, she began to sniff the area to test the environment. Not only could she sense the movements of cats' pawsteps, but she could sense what her friends were doing.

Goldwing was sleeping on Archie's front right leg, Tobias was sleeping on Archie's head with his head under one wing, and the WaterClan warriors were sleeping inside their tents. But Nightpaw was awake for a bit while she was across the camp in her tent. After observing this, she laid her head down onto her paws and fell back asleep.

But quite suddenly, she woke up with a gasp, groping around the earth with her front paws. As the small black-furred she-cat felt around to feel the tremors in the ground, she felt her right ear twitch, a usual sign for picking up vibrations in the dirt. Nightpaw realized that something was coming; she didn't know what it was, but it could spell danger for her and her new pack.

So Nightpaw ran out of her den and cried out, "There's something heading our way!"

Nightpaw heard fumbling as Goldwing woke up from while Tobias cawed loudly. Another scrabbling sound told her that Silverheart and Ashfeather were waking up and rushing out of their den.

"What's the hurry?" Goldwing muttered dozily.

"I'm not sure," Nightpaw admitted, feeling the ground with her paws. "It feels like a tremor...but it's also NOT a tremor."

Ashfeather meowed, "Wow. Your acuity powers are freaky. Cool, but freaky."

"So should we leave?" Silverheart meowed with worry in her voice.

Goldwing replied, "Better that than get attacked by whatever's coming."

**...**

Just beyond the pine trees, something was moving rapidly in their direction across an open area of ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust around in its wake. Goldwing directed for Archie to fly up and away from it. But no matter how much Archie tried to swerve in a different direction, that something kept chasing them.

"What in StarClan's name is that?"

Silverheart's worried meow made Goldwing turn and gasp with surprise. Chasing them was a large rhino-like tank with smoke pouring out of its smokestack. It had two large compartments connected to it, trailing behind it like a rattlesnake's rattle tail; all of them had large treads. The machine was actually moving very quickly for a machine its size.

With sleeping sand in his eyes, Goldwing yawned and glanced up at the full moon; it was partly cloudy, a usual sign that StarClan was angry or an omen coming around. Archie flew slowly over clouds, trying to keep out of sight from the strange machine. Ashfeather was already sleeping, Nightpaw was holding onto the right side of the saddle, and Silverheart was laying in the middle. As the three other Clan cats tried to wake up, Archie flew over a few hills to avoid the machine.

_StarClan, please don't let that thing find us._

**...**

Nightpaw could feel Archie landing carefully on one of the hills, stumbling slightly. Once all four feet were on the ground, the black she-cat leapt out of the saddle and laid flat on her back on the ground. The other three climbed out as well with their stuff in their jaws.

"Ah...land sweet land!" she purred, stretching out on her back. Then she quickly sat back up, got up from her spot, grabbed her stuff in her jaws, and padded away from the others. "Good-night!"

"Why don't you help us unload the stuff?" Silverheart asked her.

Instead of going over, Nightpaw dropped her bag and turned around to face her. "Really? You really expect me to help you unload Ashfeather's smelly stuff?"

She could hear Goldwing tossing something down to the mentioned dark gray tabby tom. Then Ashfeather took a few sniffs, made a disgusted sound, and fell onto his back. Some snoring told her that he had fallen asleep. Nightpaw wanted to sleep, but it seemed that Silverheart had more work for her.

Silverheart meowed, "Well, everyone helps out. And you ARE one of us now. So yes, we'll need some help..."

"Look, you!" Nightpaw growled, pointing her tail at her mentor even though it was pointing the wrong way. "I didn't ask YOU to help me unload MY stuff! I can carry my own weight, thanks!"

As if this was the signal to stop talking, Nightpaw turned her back on the silver she-cat and the warriors and padded away. She settled down on a boulder and was prepared to make another den out of stone, but Silverheart's approaching scent told her that she was now stalking to her. She also had annoyance swarming all around her like mosquitoes.

"That's not the point!" Silverheart growled, approaching the boulder. "Ever since you became my apprentice, you've been nothing but lazy and selfish!"

That stung Nightpaw hard; she wasn't lazy or selfish, for she was carrying her own weight on her shoulders. So she pointed a forepaw at her and snarled at her, "Stop right there, Sugar Queen!" And while Silverheart seemed about to interject, Nightpaw went on, "I gave up the soft life of a kittypet to help Goldwing learn EarthBending! So don't you _dare_ tell me that I'm being selfish, you fucking bitch!"

At that, she Bended another tent around her and tried to block out the noise.

**(Author's Note: On Midnight, it switched a POV from Leafpool to Brambleclaw right near the end of the chapter. So it shall be done here.)**

Goldwing winced as Silverheart snarled, "'_Sugar Queen?' _And who are you to call me a fucking bitch?" When the entrance sealed up by EarthBending, she spat, _"Did you just slam that in my face?"_

In the next moment, both tomcats and Tobias watched Silverheart moving fitfully around and making snarling noises. Goldwing could hear something like "How can you be so irritating?" and other things he did not want to hear from her.

He faced Ashfeather and mewed, "Should we do something about it?"

Ashfeather just shrugged. "Eh...I'm just enjoying this."

Goldwing knew this wasn't entirely what he had planned, but he figured that he could break the fight up from here. So he cautiously padded over to Silverheart while she was cursing her rage at her apprentice. He wasn't sure what to say, because he knew that if he said something that could make her madder, she could screech really loudly. He had been a victim of that when they were apprentices learning to WaterBend.

"Okay, both of you gotta clam down," the Avatar Cat meowed calmly.

"Both of us?" Silverheart hissed. Turning around to reveal a frenzied face, she screeched, "I AM TOTALLY CALM!"

Looking nervous at seeing her eyes and body twitch, Goldwing stepped uneasily away from her. "Of course...of course you are."

**...**

Silverheart glared up at the starry night sky, still angry at her apprentice for her rude behavior. While the black cat was sleeping in a tent like a kittypet, she and her friends were sleeping under the stars, certain that their warrior ancestors were watching over them. But if Nightpaw wanted to be rude, then she could have a rude remark back at her!

"The stars are so beautiful tonight," she meowed loudly. As Ashfeather scowled and curled up into a ball, she added snidely, "It's a shame you can't even _see_ them, Nightpaw!"

To her satisfaction, she heard a grunt from inside, but she was surprised to see a rumble of earth emerge and crawl quickly across the ground. It struck her from beneath, lifting her into the air and making her fall on top of Ashfeather, waking her brother wake up and rasping as the wind was knocked out of him.

"Dammit!" Ashfeather coughed, shoving her off of him. "Stop all this arguing and quaking, you two! A guy needs his beauty sleep!"

But suddenly, as soon as that was done, Nightpaw suddenly burst out of her tent, her front paws groping at the ground and her ears twitching. Silverheart guessed that there was something else that got her attention.

"That thing's coming back! The strange machine!" Nightpaw called out.

As the three other cats looked towards the approaching sound, Ashfeather curled up into a ball again. "How far away is that thing? Maybe we can sleep in for a few minutes..."

"No," Goldwing meowed directly, glancing up to see smoke rising from the top of the trees.

**...**

Archie was once again flying over trees and hills, away from the smoke cloud. Goldwing looked over at the machine from the side as it moved powerfully and speedily across the ground. At the rear of Archie's saddle, Silverheart and Nightpaw were laying there on the supplies away from each other.

Goldwing wished that he could get those two to stop arguing once and for all, but there was also something else to worry about. Every time that they fled from the machine and made camp, that machine knew where they were at and continued pursuing them. Even _he _didn't know what that machine was, but he knew that by some means, it posed a danger to the pack.

"What IS that thing?" Silverheart murmured.

"Yeah, and why does it keep hunting us like prey?" Nightpaw added.

Goldwing was grateful that those two stopped arguing, but he was still worried that the machine could catch them. He looked over the lip of the saddle to see Ashfeather falling fast asleep.

He told the she-cats, "I don't know. But we're gonna get away this time."

Silverheart and Nightpaw looked too tired to ask him how. Instead, they each gave a huge yawn and curled up into balls of black and silver fur.

Finally, after minutes of flying, Goldwing and his pack arrived at a tall hill with stones and no trees near them. As Archie landed, he fell onto his right side, spilling out the company in his saddle. Goldwing, Silverheart, and Nightpaw simply stayed lying where they fell as Ashfeather already curled up next to a boulder, trying to get comfy.

"Now that that's done, this is a comfy dirt spot," the dark gray tabby grumbled.

"That's fine," Silverheart told him. Then, glaring at Nightpaw, she hissed, "Besides, Nightpaw wasn't going to help us anyways."

Goldwing groaned when Nightpaw snapped back at her mentor, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that little bitchy Silver_kit_ still wants to be tucked in every night!"

"Stop arguing," Goldwing muttered sleepily. He regretted making them pair up together in this mentor-apprentice bond. He curled up into a ball and laid his tail on his nose, muttering, "There's something chasing after us. We don't even know who or who it is yet."

Silverheart meowed, "Maybe it's Bearclaw. We haven't seen him since we left the North Pole."

Goldwing curled up tighter, thinking all about this piece of news. Bearclaw had been chasing them all over the Earth, trying to capture the Avatar Cat and take him to Darkstar. But so far, the large dark tabby was very futile in this job. Plus, after Bearclaw caught him one final time, he almost froze to death, and they had to bring him back to warm up before he escaped.

_Maybe it IS Bearclaw, _Goldwing thought. _But he wouldn't use that kind of machine...would he?_

"Who's Bearclaw?" Nightpaw asked. She was new to the team; they hadn't told her about him yet.

Ashfeather stuck his muzzle into the ground and mewed, "He's an angry jackass with a scar and tabby stripes chasing us. He's trying to trap Goldwing and take him to Darkstar."

"What's wrong with tabby stripes, tabby stripes?" Silverheart purred teasingly.

"THESE..." the dark gray warrior mumbled, pointing to his stripes with his tail, "...are Siberian tiger stripes."

Silverheart purred, "Well, it tells others that you're fun and cheerful!"

Goldwing couldn't hear what Ashfeather said in response, but he knew that the two WaterClan warriors liked to bicker playfully. Sometimes, they could argue over something like prey or even chores. But in the end, they would end up making it up to each other by fishing or practicing their battle moves.

Then Ashfeather mumbled while flipping over onto his back, "Anyways, whatever might've been chasing us gave by now. They won't follow us here! So everyone should just...shh," he added, pointing to his lips with his jaws.

As he laid back down, Tobias landed on top of his chest and chirped.

"No, Tobias. No hunting time now," Ashfeather rebuked him dozily. "It's shh time. Sleepy time."

Tobias hopped off his chest and stood beside him, chirping loudly. He lifted himself into the air and circled above the cats, his tail feathers quivering with nervousness. Goldwing noticed that this was Tobias' way of telling them that danger was nearby, and there was one reason his red-tailed hawk was doing this.

"Oh no," Ashfeather moaned, sitting up. "Oh HELL no."

As the two she-cats sat up, Goldwing groaned, "It can't be. They can't have followed us easily."

"I can feel its quakes under my paws!" Nightpaw cried.

Goldwing scrabbled over the edge of the hill with Tobias to see what was going on. And there was the cloud of smoke again, looming from a distance. And there was the machine as it crawled over a hill and continued to approach the four cats. He had no idea what was following them, but it seemed to follow them no matter where they went.

Right now, they had become the prey instead of the predators, like mice becoming prey to owls. But he knew by some chance that the machine could be friendly and the hunters inside could be their friends.

As the four cats looked down the ledge, Silverheart squeaked, "We should get out of here!"

"Maybe we can fight them. You know, find out who they are," Goldwing mewed. "Who knows? Maybe they're actually friendly."

"You're as bright as always, huh?" Ashfeather grumbled.

All of a sudden, the machine abruptly stopped moving. The side of the final section opened up, white smoke poured out, and a ramp descended. In the smoke, the four Clan cats could see three figures approaching. The three figures descended down from the incline out of the white smoke, the middle one in the lead. They rode on giant basilisk lizards, but they could see who they were. They were the FireClan she-cats that they battled in MudClan to free Rockstar.

First, the white-furred Aya came out of the machine on her lizard, then the dark tortoiseshell Rose followed her. Then they were finally followed by Frostfire, the black-furred FireClan deputy. Silverheart and Goldwing stared on in shock and horror, their tiredness completely forgotten now. Then, as they stared at the detached face of Frostfire, they saw who she remotely looked like: Bearclaw.

They could see that her golden eyes were almost like the dark tabby tom's golden eyes except that they were cold instead of bitter, but they had been scary when she was angry. Goldwing had even seen her perform blue FireBending, but they had never seen her powers as frightening as the Avatar Cat's power.

_We still have to fight them, I suppose._

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

With a hiss, the three giant basilisk lizards rushed in the direction of where the young Clan cats were camping at. Goldwing saw with impending unease that those big lizards were actually fast unlike their smaller cousins, but this was no time for comparisons. The three she-cats riding on them were riding side by side as they swiftly approached their target.

_How did they find us?_

"Wait," Silverheart meowed with surprise. "Aren't those the three she-cats that almost killed us at MudClan?"

Quickly, all four Clan cats got into fighting stances. Goldwing held his staff tightly in his jaws, Silverheart formed Ice Claws around her paws, Nightpaw lifted up a hefty boulder with a flick of her tail, and Ashfeather bared his teeth while unsheathing his claws.

Nightpaw growled, "We'll take 'em on easily! Three on three!"

"Don't you mean '_four _on three?'" Ashfeather reminded her.

Goldwing glanced over at Ashfeather while the dark gray tabby tom gazed on at his sister's apprentice. Nightpaw had become a Clan apprentice, but she had a lot to learn about teamwork.

"Sorry. I didn't count you since you're not a Bender," Nightpaw told him bluntly.

Dropping his stance and making a manic face, Ashfeather hissed furiously, "I can still fight!"

Nightpaw rolled her eyes. "Fine. Three on three plus Ashfeather."

Ashfeather growled at the she-cat as he flushed, but he didn't say anything else.

The four Clan cats looked down the slope to look on at the approaching FireClan she-cats that were getting nearer by every step. Nightpaw reared up onto her hind paws and thrust at the air a few times, unsheathing her claws at the third jab. A large rumble of earth descended from her position, blasting rocks everywhere at the riding she-cats riding forward. Large rock formations rose from the ground to block them, but they simply rode over each one.

"We wanted to see who they are, and we know now," Ashfeather meowed as he followed his sister and Goldwing to Archie. Sheathing his claws, he added, "Now let's get the hell outta here!"

But when Goldwing and his earlier friends looked to see if Nightpaw was following, they saw that she hadn't moved. She once again assumed a Bending posture and stomped the ground once with a forepaw. A large wall of earth rose up to barricade the path on the path up the hill.

Frostfire moved her tail underneath herself while blue-colored electricity sparkled like a firefly around it and then brought her left front leg over and across her chest. She released a blast of deadly lightning which destroyed a slice of the wall which the she-cats rode through to continue their pursuit.

Silverheart, Tobias, and Goldwing were already in Archie's saddle while Ashfeather was on the ground, gathering stuff to put on the saddle. But Nightpaw remained rooted at her spot at the edge of the rock, looking on in amazement. Goldwing almost had the urge to leap out there and haul her away from these dangerous cats, but it would be too risky. So he had no choice but to wait.

The dark tortoiseshell she-cat named Rose raised her left front paw and released four black sharp arrows from her front ankle. But as they were heading directly for Nightpaw, she quickly got to her EarthBending and caused the ground under her to rise, swiftly boosting her up. The arrows hit the rock while Silverheart grabbed her apprentice's scruff and hauled her on board.

"Yip yip, Archie!" Goldwing yowled to his dragon.

Archie gave a roar in reply and lifted himself off of the ground. He flew away from the hill just as a blast of blue fire emerged from the dust cloud that Nightpaw's EarthBending created.

Back on the ground, Frostfire had her right front paw pointing up, her middle and index claws extended. She lowered her paw and looked after them in dissatisfaction; Goldwing could almost see the rage on her face as they flew away.

**...**

Archie let out a yawn as he flew on while Ashfeather, Silverheart, and Nightpaw all laid on a few things in place of moss. Goldwing was in the driver's seat on top of Archie's head, but he felt so tired. Maybe just as tired as his friends.

Silverheart was saying, "I can't believe those she-cats followed us from MudClan!"

"I think we still should've beaten them up like no problem!" her apprentice griped.

"Are you mouse-brained?" the silver warrior meowed in disbelief. "That crazy blue fire and the daggers were bad enough. But the last time we saw them, the white she-cat with the gray tail and gray stripes did something that briefly stopped my Bending." She winced as she finished, "Now THAT was scary."

Goldwing nodded in her direction while letting out a massive yawn, revealing his pearly white fangs. The last time he had seen those cats, he was just clashing with Frostfire; the black-furred FireClan deputy had been quite a match. But he hadn't seen the white she-cat battle Silverheart, for he was trying to free Rockstar from his prison.

And just too soon, the sun was starting to rise over the high hills.

"Oh shit!" Ashfeather moaned; he was sitting at the edge of the saddle. "The sun's rising! We've been up all night with no sleep!"

Hearing this, Goldwing was going to tell him that cats were night animals, but he held it back in time. The original Clan cats were usually diurnal and they often slept at night; because of that, the new Clans were also diurnal, although some cats remained nocturnal. But he didn't say that out loud.

Instead, he meowed, "We'll be okay."

But Ashfeather was making crazy gestures with his paws and pointing to the sun. "Are you sure about that? I haven't NOT slept before! What'll happen if we fall asleep and something happens? In fact, something _always_ happens!"

"I agree," Silverheart yawned. "Every time we land, those she-cats arrive. So we should just keep flying."

"I'd love to agree with you, Silverheart," Goldwing mewed drowsily. "But we can't fly forever."

**...**

The pinto mare neighed as she galloped onwards after the machine, her cat owner gazing down at the ground. Bearclaw had seen how the machine tore through the land, ripping up flower and killing any unaware prey that stumbled in its path. The large dark brown tabby tom saw that this was perhaps Frostfire's machine, possibly to hunt down the Avatar Cat.

His former target.

Determination seeping into his mind, Bearclaw lifted his head, gave the horse a strong meow to move, and raced after the machine. They were racing with the machine on the vast savannah, racing for the Avatar Cat.

_I won't let her win!_

**...**

Goldwing let out another yawn as he curled up into a ball on Archie's head. The white-furred Asian Lung dragon was also yawning as he lazily flew around in the now-sunny sky. The two survivors of AirClan had never felt so tired in their lives, even more than when they had run away from the Southern AirClan camp.

The golden Avatar Cat turned around to look at his companions, and they looked as tired as he. Silverheart and Ashfeather were lying down on a pile of strapped up bags while Nightpaw was slumped up against the rim of Archie's saddle. As he watched them doze off, he felt that they could have shorter tempers if they didn't have any sleep.

Therefore, since they didn't sleep at all, they were going to be cranky soon.

"So w-w-what's the plan?" Goldwing yawned loudly.

Nightpaw mewed dozily, "How should I know? I'm too tired to think."

"We'll think of something if we take a little catnap," Silverheart murmured sleepily.

Ashfeather just groaned in reply. It sounded like "Finally!" to Goldwing.

But suddenly, the two WaterClan warriors began to rise as clouds rushed by from the bottom of the dragon; Goldwing had a bad feeling about this. Hearing a rumbling sound, he leaned over Archie's head and looked down at his animal guide. Archie was fast asleep in midair, his brown eyes closed and his still limbs halting movement.

Goldwing gulped with fear as he turned back to his companions and saw what was happening to them. Nightpaw was sinking her claws into the rim of the saddle while Tobias was holding onto her tail with his talons.

"What's going on?" Nightpaw wailed.

"It's Archie! He must've fallen asleep while flying!" Goldwing howled back while grabbing the reins. But now he was falling several fox-lengths above his Asian Lung dragon.

Together, the four cats tried their hardest to hang on for their lives. Silverheart grabbed quickly onto her brother's tail while he sunk his claws quickly into the bags in the saddle. Ashfeather let his sister cuddle close to him as all four cats continued screaming in terror while Nightpaw was holding out on her own on the rim of the saddle.

Goldwing, in the meantime, tried to wake Archie up by trying to open his eyelids, but the dragon continued to sleep. But when he meowed the words used to make him fly, Archie finally opened one eye and halted his fall by landing in a couple of trees. They clung onto some fur, but they were almost blown out of the saddle as the dragon raced forward.

Archie groaned as he crashed through the pine trees, trying to slow down. Then all four Clan cats shielded themselves from the branches and limbs that crashed into them like pigeons. Speaking of pigeons, several wood pigeons were flying away from the trees, and finally, at last, Archie had landed as he created a large channel behind him in his crash landing before falling back to sleep.

**...**

All four cats were breathing hard to recover from the ordeal while Archie continued to sleep. Nightpaw could feel Goldwing leap off of his dragon and heard him sniffing. It was maybe to make sure if Archie was all right.

"Archie's so exhausted. We should let him rest," the Avatar Cat meowed.

Nightpaw heard Ashfeather yawn and knead the ground before lying down. "We sure got away from those evil she-cats. Now let's follow Archie and sleep along with him."

"I agree," Silverheart mewed while Nightpaw curled herself up into a ball. But as soon as she closed her blind eyes, she heard her mentor's voice harden as she added, "We would've gotten to sleep earlier if only Nightpaw didn't have a problem with helping!"

_"What?"_ Nightpaw hissed. She opened her eyes up and slamming her front paws to the ground, causing the ground to rumble.

As she stalked over to Silverheart and stared her down, Goldwing called calmly, "That's enough. Everyone's really tired, so let's just take a little rest."

But Nightpaw spat, "Not until I hear what Silverheart has to say!" To her, she spat, "You think I have a problem?"

Silverheart growled, "I'm just saying! If you helped set up camp like a real warrior instead of a lazy kittypet, we could've set up camp faster and got some sleep, and we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. So it really IS your fault!"

"So you're blaming ME for this?" Nightpaw snarled. She could hear Ashfeather grunt when he heard the yowling voices piercing his ears before falling back to sleep.

Nightpaw heard the obvious sound of claws unsheathing, and Silverheart was growling as if to challenge her to a fight. Her apprentice met the challenge as she fluffed up her fur and raised her tail in anger. Ashfeather wasn't doing anything but sleep while Goldwing was on Archie's head, watching the she-cats fight.

But suddenly, Nightpaw was pushed to the side as Goldwing rushed in to stop the quarrel. Then he mewed, "She's not blaming you!"

"Oh, I am SO blaming this bitch!" Silverheart snapped.

Nightpaw hissed in reply and shoved Goldwing aside. Despite Goldwing being slightly older than her and her being smaller than him, she was more powerful when it came to shoving him away. She knew that AirClan wasn't as strong as EarthClan was.

Anyways, she hissed, "I didn't ask you for shit! I told you I can carry my own weight and I am!" Pointing her tail to Archie, she added, "Besides, I think that Mr. Sheds-His-Hide is to blame!"

"What?" Disbelief and anger now rose with Goldwing meow. "You're blaming ARCHIE?"

"What else do you think?" Nightpaw growled. "You wanna know how they keep finding us?"

She padded to Archie's side and raised herself onto her hind paws, feeling around with her front paws until she found a piece of loose dragon fur. Ignoring the rumbling sleepy sounds from the dragon, she sunk her claws into that piece of loose dragon fur and pulled it out. The strand of fur was stuck in between her claws.

Slamming her front paw down as some hairs floated in the breeze, she growled, "He's left a trail of smelly dragon fur wherever we go! That's why we keep getting chased by those cats!"

But however, this was apparently the wrong thing to say in front of Goldwing. The golden pelted Avatar Cat leaped forward and shoved his face into hers until they were almost touching noses.

Goldwing snarled, "How dare you accuse Archie! He's saved your ass three times today, but all you do is blame him! If there's anyone to blame, it's YOU!" Pointing his paw at her, he growled on, "You've been talking about carrying your own weight, but you're just lazing around, you lazy kittypet! Archie's carrying YOUR weight right now!"

"Well, I'm _sorry_..." Nightpaw began sarcastically.

"No you're not! Not yet!" Goldwing roared at her. "He never had a problem flying when it was only three of us!" Pushing her away, he growled, "You know what? You don't have what it takes to be a warrior! You don't even DESERVE to be a warrior!" Backing away from her some more, he snapped, "Get out of here! Now!"

Nightpaw just stared on in surprise while Ashfeather woke up with a grunt; did Goldwing, the Avatar Cat, just tell her that she didn't deserve to be a warrior? But now she felt pure rage well up inside of her like a flooding river. If they wanted to do nothing than to blame her, then that was fine with them.

Turning away from him, she snarled, "Fine! Screw you guys! I'm outta here!"

To prove that, she used her Bending to fling her bag in the air before catching it. Making sure it was secure, she flung it over her shoulder and stalked away from the three Clan warriors. What Goldwing meowed was right: she felt she didn't deserve to be a warrior, following the Warrior Code.

Suddenly, Ashfeather leaped before her and tried to block her way; out of all the warriors in this pack, the dark gray tabby didn't blame her for anything. But she didn't want his sympathy, not now while the others were blaming her for everything. So Nightpaw tapped the ground with her back paws, causing the ground under Ashfeather to move to the side along with him.

She continued to walk away, ignoring a familiar tremor beneath the ground.

**...**

"What the hell did I do!" Goldwing howled to the sky in grief. Lowering his head, he mewed, "I just shouted at my own EarthBending mentor! Now she's not here and...it's all my fault."

"It's my fault too, Goldwing," Silverheart meowed. After Goldwing roared his fury at Nightpaw, she felt bad for being malicious to her; now she felt ashamed for being a bad mentor, and she had cost them a new Clanmate. "We were all trying to get used to her. And...I was so _cruel_ to her. I don't even deserve to be a mentor after that."

Ashfeather, who was lapping up water from a nearby stream, looked at them with drops of water dripping from his whiskers. He meowed calmly, "Yeah, you two _were_ being jerkasses to her."

Silverheart muttered, "Thanks."

"No problem," Ashfeather meowed before going back to drinking some water.

"He's right," Goldwing meowed. "We WERE being jerkasses to her."

Silverheart's ears flattened with shame. "We have to go find Nightpaw and apologize to her."

Ashfeather looked around at her and replied, "Damn right you will. But first things first: what're we gonna do with a tank of dangerous she-cats chasing us?"

Recalling what Nightpaw meowed (and still feeling ashamed of what he yelled to her), Goldwing sat up and reached up to Archie's side. Unsheathing his claws a bit, he stuck them into another piece of loose dragon fur and let it flow in the breeze like a flower petal.

_That's what she was trying to tell us!_

Out loud, he mewed, "I got an idea."

In a matter of minutes, Archie was now in the neighboring river and getting a refreshing sponge bath. Goldwing and Silverheart stood on each of the banks, using WaterBending to create spouts of water that rose and splashed onto the dragon's back. Ashfeather was standing next to Archie's head with a scrubbing stick in his jaws.

Some fur had been caught on several stones as it flowed downstream. Tobias had a sponge on his talons as he flapped down to land on Archie's back and brush him down. The stream of water, however, moved up Archie's back toward him and quickly flew away to avoid it. Ashfeather, who was scrubbing Archie's head, looked up as Tobias flew away. The stream of water instead showered the dark gray tabby tom, who groaned with frustration.

Soon enough, Archie got out of the river, squeaky clean. However, his fur was now wet and hanging heavily instead of becoming fluffed up like the tail of a rabbit. Goldwing knew it was how dragon fur looked like after a bath: wet and heavily hanging.

"Nightpaw was right," Goldwing told his friends. "Archie WAS leaving a trail behind him as he flew! But now that he's clean, there are no more trails!"

Silverheart mewed with concern, "Are you sure Archie's okay flying while he's wet?"

Goldwing reassured her, "I'm sure. As long as we leave our stuff here, he'll be fine." He moved to a pile of fur and placed it into a small bag. "I'll use Archie's fur to make a false trail and lead that tank off our tails."

He leapt onto the head of Archie, who roared and took off. But he didn't clear the closest pine trees and hit them, causing their tops to break off and crash below. Goldwing fell to the ground and watched him fly away, and then he turned around and walked off. Then he began running and taking off on his glider while white furs dropped from his bag, falling to the ground.

This was one plan that really had to work. Plus, they had to find Nightpaw and apologize to her, but it had to wait for now. What mattered now was to distract the FireClan cats before things could get ugly.

**...**

Nightpaw stalked along between rocks and trees on the side of a large mountain. Trying hard to concentrate on hunting, she couldn't get the words of the Clan cats out of her head. That proved that she was probably just a kittypet that didn't deserve to be a warrior. But she couldn't return home or her parents would ground her for good. So a life of a loner would have to do; a life of fending for herself really seemed to interest her now.

But while she was stalking a bird pulling a worm out of the ground, she halted in her stalking mode. Her paws were letting her know that she felt a vibration underneath the earth. Her front paw turned to the left and she took a breath as she EarthBended quickly, causing a rumble of earth to jet across the ground to her left. The small black cat heard the rumble hit a rock and cause a huge dust cloud to emerge behind it.

Suddenly, she could hear a grunt of pain from the other side of the rock. Feeling shock run in her veins she ran to check who she hit.

When she arrived, she could feel an elderly tom lying on the ground and rubbing his behind. By the smell of his long pelt, it was no longer nice and tidy, but long, bushy, and messy; this cat had to be a loner, like she was now. Nightpaw leaped onto a larger rock in front of him and got into a stance on the rock behind him.

"Ow, my poor back," the tom moaned. "_And_ my backside."

"Whoa! My bad!" Nightpaw mewed.

The old tom replied, "It's all right, young one. I'll recover. Would you like to have a bowl of cream with me?"

Nightpaw nodded and leapt down from the rock.

**...**

Frostfire sniffed the area around her, her jaws open to drink in any surrounding scents to find the Avatar Cat. She was expecting her bothersome brother and uncle to get away, but they wouldn't get away with catching her target. Behind her, Rose and Aya looked around at the canopies of the woods while they paused for a drink at the nearby river.

All of a sudden, something white on the stepping stones caught Frostfire's attention; the black she-cat paused from lapping some water from the river. She padded over to the rocks in the river and sniffed at them more closely; there was a trace of AirClan, WaterClan, and (amazingly for her) EarthClan. This scent also belonged to the dragon that the Avatar Cat was riding.

"Hmmm...wads of wet fur." Rose commented while Frostfire inspected the wet fur. "Interesting."

Aya abruptly meowed, "Those aren't wads. There're more like...bales." Frostfire turned around to look at her while her white-pelted friend went on, "Or maybe they're clusters. It's got an 'uh' sound to it."

Rose sighed. "Clumps?"

"Clumps! That's it! They're clumps!" Aya cheered, sounding delighted and pulling Rose into a hug.

The dark tortoiseshell didn't say anything, but she looked out at a path the dragon had supposedly left behind. Frostfire looked away from a staggering squirrel and looked at what was going on. The FireClan deputy looked up to see a smaller flying shape flying away from them and laying some kind of trail.

"The trail went that way," Rose meowed, pointing her tail somewhere as she separated herself from Aya.

Frostfire strained her neck up to look around to observe the environment around her. A sudden crashing noise made her look to the treetops, and she saw the dragon already crashing through the canopies. She knew that the Avatar Cat was trying to make her mission impossible, but she could figure this out quickly.

"The Avatar Cat is trying to make us lose his tail," Frostfire growled softly. Pointing her tail at the treetops and then to the fur trail, she ordered her friends, "You two head through the forest and keep an eye out for that dragon. As for me, I'll head in this direction."

Once the two she-cats nodded to their friend, they jumped onto their outsized basilisk lizards and rushed off in the direction of the dragon. Frostfire was somewhat proud of her friends for their devotion to her and their Clan, but she was more concerned about catching the Avatar Cat. It was vital for Darkstar to kill this cat so that FireClan could win the Great War.

While she thought of this, she leaped on her large basilisk lizard and whipped the reins around a little before the creature leaped away. She could see the river bank, the big black machine tank sitting away from it with steam pouring out of its stack. Two basilisk lizards were now running off one way while another was going in the other way.

This was one mission she should succeed in this time.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing began dropping parts of Archie's fur as he glided over the pine forest. As he glided over a small desert for a while, he looked down at the pouch of dragon fur strapped to his body. He sighed with tiredness as he checked to make sure the fur was still escaping then bag, and then he looked forward resolutely.

He glided on towards an enclosed ghost town that appeared ahead of him in the distance. The Avatar Cat hoped Frostfire and her pack could follow him so that his friends could flee in safety. But he knew the FireClan deputy was waiting for him to appear somehow in hopes of capturing him, but that was a small price to pay. What he wanted more was for his friends to escape from this danger.

Goldwing landed and folded up his glider as he turned to lick a piece of fur off his shoulder. He padded down the town's main pathway and looked around him. The buildings were damaged beyond repair, and there were bits of debris everywhere. Shutters flapped glumly like the broken wings of a bat on a window. To his left, a bell's ringing echoed in the gusty wind. Goldwing could tell that this town was deserted.

Shaking the last bits of dragon fur out of his bag, Goldwing opened his glider to leave, but then he stopped himself. He turned and looked back at the trail of fur leading out of the ghost town. He began thinking a moment, realizing that if he left immediately, Silverheart and Ashfeather would be in more danger. The Warrior Code clearly stated that he had to defend his Clanmates, even at the cost of his life.

Giving a sigh, he closed his glider and sat down at the end of the trail, his tail wrapped around his front paws. He was now waiting to face his pursuers.

_Just let them come. StarClan, give my friends strength._

**...**

Archie flew slowly through the morning sky, looking exhausted after all that happened the night before. But Silverheart and Ashfeather weren't tired anymore; fear and determination made them wide awake now, and Silverheart wanted to find Nightpaw and apologize to her. Since Goldwing led another trail for the FireClan cats to chase, they could look for her apprentice with ease.

Silverheart was the one who was at the reins to steer Archie while Ashfeather was keeping up some guarding from the saddle. The dark gray tabby tom was sniffing the air and observing the landscape.

"I don't think Nightpaw went too far," Ashfeather meowed. "No offense to her, but since she's a kittypet...never mind. Let's just hope a fox doesn't get to her before we do."

Silverheart nodded, feeling nervous and ashamed at that. _If I was a better mentor, I wouldn't drive her away towards some foxes!_

But all of a sudden, Tobias started shrieking and Ashfeather asked him, "What is it, Tobias?" But after a few seconds of silence, Silverheart heard horror in her brother's voice. "Oh SHIT no. Hey Silverheart! Look!"

So Silverheart bounded over to her brother quickly, and what she saw next made her gasp with horror. Below them, two of the she-cats from FireClan were still chasing them on their lizards; the black she-cat wasn't after them now, but this was still too many. Even though Frostfire was following Goldwing's trail, those two she-cats were too much to handle.

_Especially Aya_, she thought as she gazed down at the white she-cat. Her fur shivered, and her whiskers twitched as she remembered that chi-blocking attack that stopped her WaterBending back at MudClan. Those attacks had nearly cost the silver she-cat her life if Archie hadn't come to save her.

"How did they find us?" Silverheart hissed.

Without a word, she went back to Archie's reins and began pressing the tired dragon ahead. As Archie plowed through the sky, Silverheart looked down to see if the she-cats were following them. Unfortunately, they were, for they were keeping up with him on their lizards; their faces were grim with determination.

Suddenly, Silverheart heard Archie yawn and felt him tilt downwards. This wasn't a good sign.

"Archie! What in StarClan's name are you doing?" Ashfeather was howling. "Go faster!"

"He's too tired!" Silverheart called back.

Ashfeather was now racing around in circles on his spot, squealing, "Oh shit! Oh shit! This is NOT good!"

The Asian Lung Dragon let out another big yawn while Silverheart looked down to the ground once again. If Archie fell asleep right now, he could fall to the ground just like what happened last time except with deadlier results. Plus, the thought of facing Aya again made her feel as if she was being thrown in icy water.

Speaking of water, the silver she-cat faced the front again and saw something that brought relief to her. Up ahead of them was a widespread river, something that the FireClan cats couldn't cross easily. WaterClan cats could swim easily and Archie had shown good skills in swimming, but she hadn't seen a FireClan cat swim before.

_Now's not the right time to see that._

"You're doing well, Archie!" Ashfeather called. "We just gotta get across that river!"

Archie just gave a third yawn as he did what the two cats on his back told him. But as he began to descend, his long claws raked several tree branches off of the tops of several pine trees.

"Archie, come on! Just a little farther!" Silverheart pleaded, her claws sinking into loose fur.

Their pursuers were now right below them as their lizards raced faster than ever before. The dark tortoiseshell she-cat threw several daggers at Ashfeather, but he avoided them by leaping to one side while a passing bird was killed by the knives. Archie kept on yawning still as he sluggishly made his way towards the other side of the river.

Archie plowed into the river (scattering several river seals) and then into the far bank, leaving a deep trench in the earth. When he stopped sliding, he began making low rumbling sounds, for he was already asleep. The two WaterClan warriors and Tobias stood up and looked on to the other side of the river.

The two she-cats had stopped their lizard mounts right at the bank on the other side of the river. They were glaring after them as if they couldn't swim over there themselves.

"Yeah!" Ashfeather yowled, jumping up and down. "We made it to the other side!"

"You did it, Archie!" Silverheart squealed to the sleeping dragon before embracing her brother.

But what she saw next over his shoulder made her gasp with terror.

When the two she-cats saw the two siblings embrace, they gave each other a nod before making their lizards go into the river. Then, to Silverheart's amazement, the lizards rose up on their hind legs and ran across the water. Silverheart released her brother and sent a huge wave at them with WaterBending. The wave hit Aya's mount, but the white she-cat leapt gracefully off before the wave hit.

Aya appeared from the top of the wave and landed among the branches of the nearby trees. She leaped from tree to tree, getting nearer to Silverheart with each leap. Silverheart summoned Ice Claws from water in her water pouch around her neck and tried to swipe at the bouncy FireClan cat, but then she dodged the strikes her foe now threw at her. Then the silver warrior launched several sheets of water at Aya, but she performed a series of flips and avoided them easily.

Meanwhile, Rose had finally reached the near bank of the river on her mount. Spotting the two WaterClan cats, the dark tortoiseshell she-cat hurled several daggers at her target.

Silverheart gulped with fear as she got cornered against a boulder by Aya, who shocked her more with lithe moves. Both she-cats turned around as Ashfeather leapt between them and ran for his sister. Before they got to her, her brother deflected them with his walrus-tusk knife and threw his boomerang at Rose. The dark tortoiseshell leapt off her mount, the boomerang flying through where she was just sitting. She launched more daggers at Ashfeather, who swiftly destroyed them with his club before getting a scratch on his cheek from one dagger.

Silverheart sighed, hoping that things weren't getting worse, but it got worse when Rose pounced at her. The two she-cats were now in a storm of fur, teeth, and claws as they took damage from each other.

With a ruthless grin on her face, Aya leapt forward, did a series of flips, and sprung into the air. She came down and, with a couple of rapid moves, rendered Ashfeather's right front leg useless. He dropped the boomerang that was under his right paw, turned around, and found his left front leg useless as well. He tried to use his teeth, but she knocked one incisor tooth out with her paw. But as Aya tried to strike him again, the dark gray tabby tom head-butted her outstretched paw.

The white she-cat pulled it back with an expression of intense pain on her face. She got over it quickly and glared angrily at her opponent.

"Nice try, but...not gonna work," Ashfeather told her simply.

Pleased with her brother's calm nature in battle, Silverheart broke away from Rose and sprinted over to a tree on the edge of the river. She gathered a wave of water from the river, but her tail and front paws were swiftly pinned to the tree by daggers thrown at her by Rose. Now that she was trapped, she had no choice but to wait for either a miracle or to get killed.

_Do whatever! Just please make Goldwing and Nightpaw safe, StarClan!_

But as Rose sat down and waited patiently with her tail around her paws, Ashfeather limped in between them and laid down from exhaustion. But he was slumped down onto his chest, his rear sticking up in the air like a rock on a mountain. As the two WaterClan warriors stood or laid still, looking defeated, Aya padded forward with a calm look on her face.

"Hey, Silverheart," Ashfeather groaned. "This is bad, huh?"

"You think?" Silverheart snapped back madly.

After that, they turned to see the two she-cats still looking at them. Rose was glaring blankly at them with her tail around her paws while Aya padded up next to her, her tail wagging back and forth.

Finally, Rose slumped and looked down in displeasure as she meowed, "I thought it'd be very awesome if we caught you." She stood back up, shook her fur, and added, "Well, screw this. Victory is boring."

Suddenly, a blast of air blew both she-cats away from the WaterClan warriors and out towards the river. Both shrieked with surprise as they landed in the river away from them. Silverheart turned around to see Archie glowering at the she-cats in the river; he was now awake. He turned around to face them and plucked the daggers out of Silverheart's paws and tail while he tapped Ashfeather's front paws with his tail, making him moveable again.

And even though the two cats were wounded from their battle, they had gotten away.

"Thanks, Archie!" Ashfeather praised him, blood seeping from the hole of his missing tooth as he stood up. "We'd be crowfood if you weren't here!"

"The same here," Silverheart added, her white paws and tail stained with blood.

Archie just stuck out his boa-like tongue and licked Ashfeather all over his face in thanks. The dark gray tabby tom spluttered at this, but he still looked happy to see the white dragon arrive and save them just in time.

Splashing noises from the other side of the river made Silverheart look around to see what was going on. She saw the two FireClan she-cats swimming over to the shore and climbing out of the water, and then they shook their pelts as soon as they were out.

As Aya groomed her fur, she turned to Rose, mewing, "Is it just me...or did that dark gray tabby tom look hot?"

Disturbed about that, Silverheart ignored that comment. Right now, they had two more jobs to do. The first mission was to find Nightpaw and apologize, and the second was to find Goldwing and help him out.

They would need the strength of StarClan and the ancient Clans to do this.

**...**

The breezy wind ruffled against Goldwing's pelt as he waited patiently for his friends to return. Even though he was no mind reader, he could tell that somehow, his friends had managed to pull their job off well. But he reminded himself that it could also fail because of death or something else. So all he had to do for right now was to wait and see if they could return with Nightpaw...or without her, which would be bad.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps...but they weren't the footsteps of a cat. Then he saw them: the FireClan deputy riding on one of the basilisk lizards at him. Frostfire reached the middle of the ghost town and leapt off of her mount, which hissed and dashed off towards some shade.

Goldwing reminded himself to not feel frightened, but he saw a familiar glint in Frostfire's eyes. That also belonged to Bearclaw, who had been chasing them for around three moons, but they hadn't seen him for a moon since at the Northern WaterClan. Earlier, he had even thought that this cat was Bearclaw's sister.

_Nah. Must be unique for her._

As the two cats stared at one another, Goldwing meowed, "You caught up with me. I already know your name, but who are you really? And why are you chasing my pack?"

"Don't you know?" Frostfire sneered. "You _really_ don't see the family resemblance? Okay, I'll give you a hint." She reared onto her haunches and put one paw over her left eye, copying the dark brown tabby tomcat, "'I must capture the Avatar Cat to restore my honor and become the FireClan leader!'"

Goldwing just stared blankly at her, feeling confused. Frostfire perhaps sensed this, for she took her paw away and added, "Hey, it's okay to laugh. It's not against the Warrior Code. It's actually funny."

"Now what?" Goldwing meowed when she finished.

Frostfire's face turned to that of evil desire as she hissed, "Now, you say? Now it's over, Avatar Cat. You look exhausted, and you have nowhere else to flee to. You can run all you want, but I'll find you and catch you. And you're my little bitch now."

Goldwing stood his ground as he stood up. "I'm not going anywhere."

A cruel smile spread across Frostfire's face as the sun set slowly behind her. A gust of wind blew a strand of head fur in front of her face, making her look like an extremely dangerous foe to face in battle.

But he had nowhere to run; Frostfire had pointed that out to him. And though he was a talker and not a fighter, he would fight to the death to save his friends. Goldwing saw that this was just the case if his friends were to survive.

**...**

Nightpaw sat patiently as the old tomcat made her a bowl of Japanese cream; the old cat had told her that he was a gray tabby cat named Irontail. The small black cat sat around a campfire on a rock ledge overlooking the scene while Irontail made some cream for them both. He had to milk a wild cow to get prepared to make the cream.

The old tomcat offered her the bowl, but she didn't take it at once. She felt he was offering some cream to her because he was being sympathetic to her, something that she hated for cats to feel towards her. Nightpaw just looked into the depths of the campfire even though she couldn't see anything, feeling a little down about earlier.

"Here is your cream, young cat," Irontail told her, pushing the bowl to her. "You look a little too young to travel without an older cat with you."

Nightpaw accepted the bowl of cream civilly. "Thanks. And you seem a little too ancient for travelling."

Irontail purred. "I suppose so."

"I know what you're thinking," Nightpaw mewed, looking down to the ground. "You think I can't take care of myself, huh?"

"No," Irontail meowed. "I wasn't thinking that at all."

Nightpaw went on, "But you wouldn't let me pour my own bowl of cream. You're just feeling sorry for me, aren't you?" She paused to lap at the cream, grateful of the delicious taste on her tongue, and it tasted as good as squirrels.

The old gray tabby tom replied, "No. I poured your bowl of cream for you because I wanted to. And for no other reason," he added, swishing his tail on the dirty earth.

"Well, many cats see my blindness and consider it a weakness," Nightpaw mewed, feeling her voice crack a little. "And they just want to take care of me." But her voice coarsened toughened as she added, "But I can take care of myself by myself. I don't need a mentor or any other cat to take care of me."

"So you're an apprentice, eh?" Irontail purred, sounding amused.

Nightpaw nodded.

"You know, you remind me of my nephew," the elder went on with a thoughtful tone. "Cats like you and he always think they have to solve their problems all by themselves with no help. But it is sometimes vital to let those who love you help you out; there's nothing wrong with that." With an amused manner, he finished, "It's not that I love you. I just met you, right?"

Nightpaw purred at that. She was beginning to like and respect this cat. Then she mewed, "So where's your nephew at?"

Irontail replied, "Actually, I've been looking for him."

"Is he lost?"

"A little." Nightpaw could feel concern in the old tom's voice. "His life has been harsh lately, and he's going through hard times as a rogue. He wants to find out who he was and what destiny he had, so that's why he went away."

Nightpaw padded over to him and gently laid her tail on his shoulder. "And that's why you're looking for him?"

Irontail sighed and lapped at his bowl of cream before going on. "I know he'll be angry with me if I find him. But if he needs me, I will be there for him. Not only as his Clanmate, but as kin."

"Your nephew must be lucky to have an uncle like you," Nightpaw purred. She was happy that she forgot the argument between her, Silverheart, and Goldwing, but she also wanted to be a part of their pack again. Standing back up, she padded away and mewed over her shoulder, "Thanks."

"No problem," the gray tabby elder replied. "Sharing cream with another cat is one of life's most amazing wonders."

Nightpaw corrected him, "Not that. Thank you for all you said. It helped me a lot; it can help me bond with my mentor again."

Irontail purred. "I'm glad to hear that."

Dipping her head to Irontail again, Nightpaw picked up her bag and flung it over her shoulder. Now she was more determined than ever to reunite with her mentor and patch things up with her and her friends. She resolved that if she was going to be Goldwing's mentor in EarthBending, then she would have to train harder.

But before leaving, she turned around to Irontail and gave him this: "About your nephew? Well, maybe if you see him again, you could tell him you need him too."

Irontail nodded. And while he sat thinking about this while he lapped up his bowl of cream, she turned away from him and raced down the path from the large hill.

**...**

Goldwing's fur bristled with fear as he and Frostfire continued staring each other down across the length of the ghost town's main street. He tried to let his fur lie flat, but it was no use. His heart was filled with fear just by looking into the black she-cat's golden eyes, for he could see nothing but evil.

He almost had the urge to break away and find Silverheart and Ashfeather, but he couldn't move for some reason. Goldwing felt as if his paws were rooted to the dusty earth because he had to battle her somehow. The golden Avatar Cat wasn't one for battling, but he would have to.

"So Avatar Cat...you wish to fight me?" Frostfire sneered.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard from their sides and the two cats whirled around to see what it was. A pinto horse had burst through a broken wall in the alley before racing in between the two battling cats. She reared up into the air and let out a loud neighing sound before she came back down and galloped off. Goldwing was confused at this, but he turned around to face Frostfire.

But all of a sudden, without any warning, a large dark brown tabby cat had landed in the middle of them and tossed his hat away, his fur prickling and his claws bared. Goldwing recognized the large scar that covered the left side of his face and the missing ear, one that he ripped off with the Zetsu Tenrou Battouga. Plus, he remembered those haunted-looking golden eyes from many of their travels.

The tabby hissed, "Yes, Frostfire. I want to battle you."

"Bearclaw?" Goldwing mewed.

But Bearclaw didn't look a lot like the same the last time he saw him. Instead of having his fur groomed every day, it now looked disheveled and filthy. There were numerous claw marks on his face and pelt, and his claws looked a little chipped from rough living. Goldwing wondered how the young FireClan warrior got this way.

Frostfire had noticed him arrive, for she taunted him, "I was hoping you'd turn up some way or another...Teddy."

As Bearclaw hissed at that, Goldwing snickered a little at that. Maybe he could call him that if they ever met again.

"Shut it, you little bastard," Bearclaw spat, turning to face him. Then, when Frostfire prowled towards them, the large dark brown tabby tom blocked the way, hissing, "Back off! He's _my_ target now!"

"I'm not leaving yet. Not without the Avatar Cat," Frostfire retorted, getting into a battle stance.

She looked very confident, Bearclaw looked cautious, and Goldwing looked worried. Bearclaw was looking from in front of him to behind him as he studied his opponents.

Then...the battle began.

Frostfire quickly launched a blast of blue fire at Bearclaw, who blocked it with a wall of his own fire. Though he blocked the blast, it did knock him to the ground with a crash and cut at his pelt. Goldwing began to freak out and leapt into the air with his glider to flee, but Frostfire leaped up towards him, gave him a quick kick, and knocked him out of the air with a flood of blue fire. The Avatar Cat managed to land safely, using his staff to both break his fall and dispel the blue fire in his immediate vicinity.

Goldwing rolled around on the ground to get up, but Frostfire got near him after jumping off a nearby roof. He avoided her, got up with his staff, and looked to see Bearclaw getting back up and firing blasts at the FireClan deputy; sadly, he was now between them. Frostfire launched blast after blast of blue fire at Goldwing, but he dodged each one and dashed around her. The three cats were now trading Bending blasts, but none landed.

After a few moments, Frostfire chased Goldwing into the upper floor of a ruined building. When the black she-cat entered, her expression turned to alarm, for there was no floor and the drop was steep to the bottom while Goldwing was on the opposite from the door sitting in his Air Paws. Frostfire leaned quickly over the edge on the other side, her front legs flapping about. Goldwing smiled and waved back at her while Frostfire almost fell in, but she recovered and managed to regain stability standing on a ledge next to the doorframe.

Right after she recovered, her older littermate rushed in and swiftly leapt into the air, screeching in surprise; then he hit the ground below with a crash. But Goldwing's Air Paws were dissolving, so Frostfire launched fires several fire shots at him, which skip by him. He dispelled the rest of the move, bounded over to her on the ledge, grabbed her foreleg in his jaws, and threw her away. But she landed, gracefully and ready for action, next to Bearclaw, who was struggling to get up from where he landed.

Running out of time, Goldwing sprinted out of the door he entered through on the second floor. He ran down to the street level and started breathing hard from all that energy. Suddenly, the side of the building was blown open by a blast of blue fire, and Bearclaw was blown out to the street, unable to move.

_Great StarClan! Did she kill him? _But he had no time to think for now, for Frostfire appeared and started firing blasts at him.

He dodged each one, jumping up between the walls of a nearby alley and climbing the buildings. As he reached the top of one building, Frostfire cut a triangular piece of it off with a blast of fire. The piece of the building fell out from under him, but he caught the remainder of the building with his front claws. Frostfire repeated the process and this time, the Avatar Cat was unable to hang on. He fell into the building beneath a heap of rubble, feeling the glass cut his flesh.

Goldwing looked up from the rubble in which he was trapped inside the building, blood leaking onto his muzzle. Frostfire came forward and lit the rubble around the room on fire. Goldwing tried hastily to free himself from being trapped underneath a large beam, but he failed. The black she-cat padded forward with a cruel smile on her face.

Goldwing glared up at Frostfire with defiance as she assumed a FireBending stance. Over her shoulder, he thought he could see Silverheart entering the doorway behind her.

Frostfire was hanging onto a beam for balance as she was arched forward in a FireBending pose, her tail raised to strike. Suddenly, a water whip grabbed her tail poised to strike and yanked her backward. Goldwing was shocked as the water whips appeared from nowhere and broke down the wooden beam. Goldwing stood wearily up and began licking his chest fur, where blood was welling up.

"Silverheart!" Goldwing rasped. He was happy to see his crush assist him; there was nothing wrong with cats helping others out.

Frostfire whipped her head around and fired blasts at Silverheart, who dodged and bolted. The black cat chased her out of the building snarling with anger. As Goldwing followed them into an alley, Ashfeather leapt out at her and sliced at the air with his claws, missing her but breaking her chase of his sister. Once they were brought back together, the three cats formed a circle around the FireClan deputy and pushing her back.

Once they were out of the alley, Goldwing heard some groaning, so he turned to see who it was. Bearclaw was waking up, his scars reopened and blood flowing to the ground as his golden eyes looked faintly glassy. Suddenly, Bearclaw's uncle, Irontail, hurried over and began licking at a wound on his shoulder.

"U-Uncle?" Bearclaw rasped, looking up at him.

"Get up!" Irontail urged him. "Get up and fight!"

Bearclaw did as he was told and tried to stand up, but once he got up, he slithered on his blood and fell down again. Irontail gently took his nephew's scruff in his jaws and pulled him up onto his paws again, licking at his wounded shoulder again.

Then Bearclaw mewed, "Thank you, Uncle."

Irontail sighed with relief. "It's no problem, my nephew."

While this went on, Frostfire hurled herself at Goldwing, who leaped out of the way just in time. The FireClan deputy, her kin, and Goldwing's pack traded blasts and danced around each other, but it was clear that Frostfire was outmatched. She was falling backwards in an orderly fashion, when she was unexpectedly pushed to the ground from behind.

And the cat standing behind her was another black cat: Nightpaw.

"You guys looked like you needed help," the EarthClan apprentice mewed.

Silverheart gave her an honest smile. "Thanks, Nightpaw!" Then, looking very abashed now, she added, "I'm _so_ sorry I was so mean to you earlier."

"I'm sorry too," Goldwing put in. "You _really_ have what it takes to be a warrior."

Nightpaw smiled back at them. "No problem! But we got a cat to catch!"

For Frostfire was getting up and starting to run, causing them to chase her into a nearby alley. The others couldn't see her, but she was clearly trading blasts with them. She turned and sprinted down the alley to the other side, but as she reached the end, she ended up running into Irontail's stout form. He pushed her backwards and she bounced off, looking utterly confused.

Finally, all six cats were now besieging Frostfire, whose back was now turned to the corner of a burnt out building. She had no place to go now.

"Look what we got here," Frostfire teased. "Enemies and rogues working together, eh?" To the others' disbelief, she laid down on the ground in a submissive way and meowed, "All right, then. I'm done now. I know when I lose a fair-minded battle. You got me at last. A warrior gives up with honor, not claws."

Goldwing saw something that made him confused: Nightpaw and Irontail were swapping glances as if they were shocked to see each other there. Silverheart and Ashfeather exchanged glances with the old cat and his nephew while Goldwing did the same. Frostfire was looking over at her uncle as he tried to figure out the link between the EarthBender and the Avatar Cat's pack.

Then something bad happened.

Taking advantage of this, she leapt forward, blue fire on her claws, and slashed her uncle on the chest. Irontail let out a screech of pain before he fell to the ground, comatose and blood pouring from his chest. Bearclaw let out a roar of pain and anger as he stood helplessly as his uncle fell down.

Goldwing felt the same pain that he did; he couldn't forget the pain he felt when he saw remains of the slaughtered AirClan cats. That felt like claws swiping at his heart and watching its blood pour out onto the ground before him.

To avenge his injury, the four Bending cats launched their attacks at Frostfire at the same time while Ashfeather threw his boomerang at her. Frostfire created a shield of blue fire around her, but the combined blows of the forces directed at her caused a large explosion. Burning wreckage from the explosion began raining down from the roof; when the smoke cleared, the black warrior was gone.

Nearby, Bearclaw crouched low in despair beside his uncle, who was still lying where he fell. Irontail's amber eyes opened and groaned softly as Bearclaw bared his claws and teeth in anger. The other four cats approached from behind him, not knowing what to do.

"GET AWAY FROM US!" Bearclaw roared angrily, tears leaking down from his good right eye. When they didn't move away, he yelled, "Piss off! NOW!"

Nightpaw was gazing down at the fat gray tabby tom with tears forming in her blind green eyes. Now Goldwing wondered if she had become friends with Irontail while she had left. He couldn't really blame her; after being yelled at by WaterClan and AirClan warriors, Irontail seemed to be a cat to turn to in times of darkness.

Silverheart, meanwhile, ignored Bearclaw's warning by stepping forward, concern in her dark blue eyes. "Bearclaw, let us help!" she meowed while her tail lashed back and forth. "I know some herbs that can..."

"LEAVE!" Bearclaw roared again, unleashing a wave of fire that flew over their heads.

Goldwing glanced over at Silverheart, signaling to her that there was no more need of hanging about with the rogues. As the four cats of his pack left, Goldwing was surprised; Bearclaw didn't even try to attack him or carry him off. Instead, he seemed to be more concerned for his uncle for the time being.

The golden AirClan warrior didn't blame his enemy. It seemed that, to Bearclaw, family and kin mattered much to him; that must be the reason why the dark tabby tried so hard to catch him. But even though they did know enough herbs to heal Irontail, they couldn't do anything else to help.

So when they left, Goldwing looked over at the setting sun, sending a prayer to his ancestors.

_StarClan, I am thankful that you kept my friends safe. But please watch over Irontail. Do not let this be the time for him to die. This should not be his time to die!_

**...**

Archie had landed into a clearing of a forest on a mountain, where all four cats worked together to set up camp. While there, Goldwing stated that Silverheart could continue to teach Nightpaw in the ways of the warrior (even learning about healing herbs), but Ashfeather could become her mentor alongside his sister. It was because he understood her feelings when she left for her temporary self-exile and he had stuck up for her.

Before he closed his eyes for the night, he watched Nightpaw snuggle next to Silverheart and curl up into a ball of fur. And to his relief, Silverheart let her.

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Wow...that still pains me every time I see that scene on the real series.**

**Katara: I know. And Zuko didn't have to yell at us to leave!**

**Aang: Katara, he was just upset. And I'd be upset if you or our other friends got hurt.**

**Katara: (Hugs him) I know.**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. And I'd really go ballistic if someone hurt our dogs. I love animals, and if I see someone going rough on them, I'd go rough on them. Who wants to say the review thing and the preview for Cats At Work?**

**Aang: I will! (To the readers) We don't allow flames on here, but we allow either advice or constructive criticism. And those who review this chapter will get virtual cookie cakes or virtual drinks of their choice.**

**Preview: Goldwing's training in EarthBending has finally begun. However, things get really tough when he shows signs of weakness in training. In the meantime, Ashfeather gets into a jam when he goes out hunting. And Bearclaw tries to learn lightning redirection from his recovering uncle.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	10. Cats At Work

**Aang: Hey, Avatar Cat! Katara and I heard that your birthday's coming really soon!**

**AvatarCat12: You're right. It's coming tomorrow.**

**Katara: Then that means that there'll be new episodes of Legend Of Korra and Pokémon! Are you excited for that?**

**AvatarCat12: Heck yeah!**

**Aang: I bet you are. And if it's okay with you, I'll go ahead and say the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer:**

**Summary: Goldwing's training in EarthBending has finally begun. However, things get really tough when he shows signs of weakness in training. In the meantime, Ashfeather gets into a jam when he goes out hunting. And Bearclaw tries to learn lightning redirection from his recovering uncle.**

**Uploading Date: April 27, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_Cats At Work _

It was a few days after the terrible encounter with Frostfire. Now Goldwing and his pack had a new enemy on their tails besides Bearclaw; the dark brown tabby tom was too occupied to chase after them. Irontail had been injured by Frostfire's lightning attack, making Bearclaw very upset about this. But they couldn't help them right now, for they had to continue their journey.

The four cats cats had settled in a large canyon and were sleeping a lot due to being up all night when they tried to avoid Frostfire. Now they could sleep peacefully like hedgehogs in their hibernation.

But one cat wasn't asleep.

"It's today! I can't believe it!" Goldwing squealed like a kit, leaping up and down around his sleepy friends. "After a moon, I finally get to EarthBend! And this place is...is...perfect! What about you, Ashfeather?"

He looked down at the dark gray tabby tom. Ashfeather was curled up in a ball, glaring up at him with one blue eye opened. He even let out a groan to show that he was tired.

Goldwing flattened his ears. "Sorry," he mewed in a whisper.

All of a sudden, a deep noise under the ground made Goldwing yelp and leap back, unaware of what was going on. But then he saw the rock den of Nightpaw burst open, and a black shape shot out, leaping from rock to rock until it was resting at the top. Goldwing liked this introduction.

"'Morning, pupil!" Nightpaw cheered, standing up and raising her tail in the air. Then she leapt down from her perch and dipped her head to Goldwing.

The Avatar Cat nodded back. "Good morning, Master Nightpaw."

"Hey..." Silverheart's sleepy mew made Goldwing turn around to see Silverheart rising up and stretching her slender legs. Then she yawned, "You never called me Master Silverheart."

"Well...should I call you that?" Goldwing asked her, feeling embarrassed as he lowered his head.

Yet another noise made the three cats turn about to see that Ashfeather was already awake. The WaterClan warrior had raised his head and gave the three other Clan cats a glare through tired eyes. Giving a snarl, he curled up back into a ball and mumbled something about Benders before going back to sleep.

Nightpaw called, "Sorry, Sleepy! We'll EarthBend as _quietly_ as we can."

But Goldwing saw a smirk form on the blind black she-cat's face as she stomped her front paw onto the ground. At once, he saw a crack travel fast towards Ashfeather and go beneath his nest. Ashfeather himself let out a yowl of surprise as a large pinnacle of rock shot up underneath him, and it turned to a scream as he was launched into the air and to the other cats.

As Silverheart giggled, he hit the ground with a thump, then he got up and tramped sluggishly to Goldwing and Nightpaw, muttering angry gibberish. Then Ashfeather muttered some angry gibberish again and lumbered back over to his nest.

"So what move are we gonna learn first?" Goldwing chattered, leaping around Nightpaw. "The Rockalanche?" He swept his tail around to demonstrate it did some front rolls on the ground as if he was wrestling a cat to the ground. "I bet we're learning to make a sandy whirlpool, right?" He completed that by rearing up onto his haunches and spun his front paws around.

"Soon," his mentor replied as she head-butted his shoulder mildly. "But how about we start by moving a rock?"

And as she padded off, Goldwing followed her, yapping like a pup, "Yeah! Yeah!"

**...**

Goldwing and Nightpaw had arrived at an open area in the canyon with several rocks around them. Silverheart had followed behind them, for she was sitting on a rock mound a little distance away, flicking her ears sometimes at passing flies. In reality, Goldwing didn't mind that she came along, but if she tried to interfere, she could get hurt.

He didn't want that to happen again. That reminded him of when he wanted to learn FireBending, but he remembered his promise. After he had accidently and nearly killed Silverheart just a few moons ago, he promised to never FireBend ever again. But he pushed it out of the way, for now was the time to EarthBend.

"Now the key to EarthBending is posture," Nightpaw began. She lowered herself to the ground and widened the distance between her legs. Even though it wasn't his best, Goldwing tried hard to imitate her. "Now stay firm and tough. Earth is one stubborn element." Then she shoved the Avatar Cat (to his surprise), causing him to stumble to the side. "And the only way to move it is to be like a rock yourself."

"Got it." Goldwing turned to lick where she shoved him, wanting to keep that info in his mind.

Nightpaw twitched her ears with satisfaction. "Good. Now the true motion of moving a rock is simple." She padded over to a nearby rock, lunged forward, and struck her paw at the rock. That caused the boulder to fly into the distance, slamming into the side of the canyon. She looked over at her apprentice and meowed, "Can you handle that?"

Goldwing took a similar pace and nodded. "I'm ready."

His eyes narrowed as he leapt forward, yowling and lashing his paw outwards. But a blast of air sent Goldwing shooting backward, making him slam into Archie's side and fall on his face. The golden AirClan warrior slowly got up, licking any amount of dirt from his pelt. So far, the first lesson didn't turn out good, but it wasn't too bad either.

Fits of laughter made Goldwing sit up and look towards a rock a little bit away from Silverheart. Ashfeather was sitting on one of the other rocks, fully awake now and laughing. As he rolled around, the dark gray tabby tom hooted, "Rock beats Air!"

**...**

_Irontail looked up ahead of himself as he saw a single tree up on top of a lush hill in the sunset. The tree had beautiful autumn colors of red, orange, and golden. He looked around him find out that a certain kit wasn't following him. At first, he felt as if something had gotten him, but then a dark gray blur raced in front of him._

"_Gotcha, Dad!" Wolfkit squealed as he leaped at him. Irontail's son shared the same amber eyes, long pelt, and flat face like him. But unlike him, he had dark gray fur with no tabby stripes._

_Irontail let out a cry of mock pain as his son tackled him in the chest, sending him straight to the ground. As he laid down, Wolfkit leapt on him and started laughing with delight. The FireClan deputy couldn't help but laugh with him as he ruffled his head fur with his paw. Quickly, Wolfkit leaped off of his father and started wagging his rear in the air, ready for more._

"_Come to me, son," Irontail meowed gently. Wolfkit obeyed as his father rolled over onto his belly._

_When Wolfkit settled on his shoulders, he mewed, "Dad, we're pals, right?"_

_Irontail purred, "That's right, son."_

"_And we'll always stick together, right?"_

_This made Irontail look to the ground and turn to his son. "Wolfkit, I want to tell you something my father and my mentor had told me. Look up to the first stars coming out in the sky. StarClan is up there. Our warrior ancestors are watching over us. They live in us."_

_Wolfkit looked up. "Whoa. Really?"_

"_Indeed." Irontail looked up at the sky again. "So when you feel alone, look up to the sky beside the friends and allies you make along the way. And remember: StarClan will always watch over you forever. And so will I."_

**(Author's Note: What I'm doing next is to make sure that it's still Irontail's dream stuff. It doesn't count for the memory thing. Just watch the rest of the series and you'll find that out. And that last part there was from The Lion King, which Disney, and not me, owns.)**

_Rain fell all over Irontail as he sat underneath the same tree from earlier, except this time, two things were wrong. The first was that the tree was no longer alive, and Wolfkit (later Wolfcloud) was no longer behind him. Instead, there was a small tombstone in front of him, and he had tears falling down his face._

_As he looked down from the dark crimson sky (a sign to show evil times up ahead), he choked, "Wolfcloud, my beloved son, I hope to see you again."_

**...**

"Uncle!"

Bearclaw kept nudging his uncle to try and wake him up again; his uncle had been unconscious, his left front leg and chest covered in cobwebs. After hauling Irontail out of danger, the large dark brown tabby tom had brought him all the way over to a small broken-down hut. If it wasn't for Frostfire, they wouldn't be like this.

_That evil bitch! How dare she do this to Uncle!_

Suddenly, Bearclaw saw Irontail's amber eyes slowly open and heard the gray tabby moan. Relieved, he padded cautiously over to him and embraced him.

"You're back, Uncle," he purred. Then his voice turned serious as he went on, "Back there, you were knocked unconscious. Frostfire did this to you."

Irontail tried to get up, but he winced and partly fell down. Bearclaw rushed over to his uncle and gently helped him up, worried that he would get hurt. To help him, he let him lean against the wall, making him groan a little from the pain.

Bearclaw helped him settle down as he continued, "It was a surprise attack."

"Why am I not surprised?" Irontail grunted blankly.

Noticing a bowl of cream he had made earlier, Bearclaw rushed over and gingerly picked it up. Believe it or not, it was discovered that the mare that Bearclaw was riding on was pregnant, soon expecting a foal. Bearclaw had to milk the horse like a Twoleg would do for a cow before adding some other ingredients his uncle would love.

He hoped his uncle didn't mind.

"I made you some cream," Bearclaw meowed, setting the bowl before Irontail. "Hope you enjoy it."

Irontail purred gratefully towards his nephew before weakly lapping up the cream. Suddenly, his amber eyes lit up, and Bearclaw thought he had perhaps made some good cream. But to his slight disappointment, Irontail let out a grunt of disgust, but seeing the hurt look on his nephew's face, he quickly tried to disguise it with a somewhat delighted grunt.

Then the fat gray tabby tom croaked, "It's really good." He lapped some more cream up although he looked reluctant and grunted. "It's...er...refreshing!"

Bearclaw made sure to keep him strong by reaching behind him and pushing another bowl of cream to Irontail. But when he heard splashing noise behind him, he could tell that Irontail had thrown the cream out the window. Bearclaw felt a little offended that he didn't like the cream, for he worked hard to make it the best he could.

Despite that, he couldn't afford to get his pride broken. Bearclaw knew that his low confidence had caused him to abandon Irontail before and he wasn't willing to do that again. He didn't want to go through that again.

"Uncle, I was thinking of something," Bearclaw began as he wrapped his tail around his paws. Irontail sat up and nodded to show that he was listening. "There could be a day that I might get into another battle against Frostfire. I'll have to learn advanced FireBending moves if I can be a match for her." Noticing his uncle's frown, he added, "I know what you'll say: You want me to be nicer to Frostfire and that I should get along with her since she's my sister..."

"No," Irontail suddenly disrupted him. "She's a crazy bitch, and she needs to go down."

Bearclaw stared at his uncle in shock. He had never heard Irontail swear before; the plump gray tabby elder wasn't usually one to swear.

In spite of that, Bearclaw nodded, so Irontail wearily stood up and grunted, "I believe we should get back to training right now."

**...**

As Goldwing tried repeatedly to charge at the rock, Silverheart and Nightpaw looked from left to right, watching him charge again and again. Finally, giving up, Goldwing limped away from the rock, muttering under his breath.

_Damn! It's too hard!_

Silverheart flicked her tail to Goldwing and was speaking to Nightpaw. "What the hell went wrong there? He did just what you told him to!"

"Maybe if we try a different way..." the Avatar Cat mewed. He took up a fighting stance and began to prowl towards the boulder. "If I could move towards it from a different approach..."

"...then you're repeating your problem." Goldwing felt Nightpaw's teeth grasp his tail as she hauled him back.

She jabbed her paw frivolously on his head, telling him, "When you EarthBend, you have to stop thinking like an AirBender. There's no different approach, no other way around, and no tricky tricks that'll move that rock." She shoved him away quickly, making him yowl in surprise before going on, "You need to face it head-on! And when I mean head-on, I REALLY mean head-on!"

And to prove that, she lowered her head, pawed the ground like a rhino, and charged at the rock. She leapt at the rock and crashed her head into it, making it shatter into many little pieces.

Goldwing winced when he saw Nightpaw not flinching from that. He looked down to the ground and shuffled his forepaws, unsure of himself. He didn't know how he could do that; learning to EarthBend was hard indeed. When he looked up, he saw Silverheart get up and pad over to the two cats. But he lowered his head quickly to hear what she had to say.

"Hey, Nightpaw," Silverheart mewed to her apprentice. "I've trained Goldwing in WaterBending for a while. He really responds well to a helpful training experience. Be sure to give him lots of encouragement and good praise. Kind words. If it looks like he's doing something wrong, just give him a little nudge to get him back on the right track." She demonstrated that by giving the small black cat a small nudge on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Silverheart," Nightpaw meowed. "I'll do that. A gentle nudge."

**...**

"Keep that head held high, Twinkletoes!"

Goldwing puffed with fatigue as he strained to hold a large rock on his back, something that was normally difficult. Instead of taking Silverheart's advice, Nightpaw seemed to follow her own. In the meantime, the small blind black she-cat was stomping down and causing rock pillars to rise under his forepaws and hindpaws as he padded along. But Goldwing lost his balance and fell to the ground, the rock falling right beside him.

In another part of training, Nightpaw led Goldwing over to a small pond under a hanging rock. Then she rubbed her paws together and began digging through a flat rock on the ground with ease. Goldwing also rubbed his paws together and struck the rock with his claws, but it ended up hurting them and making them bleed a bit.

In the third part of training, Goldwing was sitting there, looking from left to right. He could feel his eyes twitch a little bit as he kept up his caution.

"ROCK-LIKE!"

Goldwing yowled in surprise as he leapt into the air; the noise had come from below. When he fell onto his back, Nightpaw had dug out a hole she dug into and flicked her paw to the ground. A pillar of rock shoved him back up as she poked him with her other paw. The golden AirClan warrior grinned nervously.

Then Nightpaw took Ashfeather's badger-bone boomerang and held her left forepaw out, keeping him front getting it. He grunted, trying to move, but she still held that weapon out of range. She shoved him backward and he stalked away, grumbling to himself, before she handed the weapon to Goldwing, who was blindfolded.

Then they moved off to the second part of this training. Nightpaw stood on a rock in the distance and began to kick the ground, causing columns of rock to emerge and fly at him. Goldwing tried to hit them and finally succeeded after missing four. When he looked up and took the blindfold off, he saw his EarthBending mentor nod in approval.

When they were at a clearing, Nightpaw raised her forelegs and two walls of rock rose on either side, leaving Goldwing amazed. Then Nightpaw moved her left forepaw in a straight line in front of her, and a line was drawn in the ground at her feet. She held up her tail, and rocks shot toward her, covering her body except for her eyes in armor. Then, as Goldwing gasped in awe, she slid forward. Goldwing used his head to stop her and slowly began to push her back. He soon began to lose ground, but finally pushed her past the line she drew in the ground.

Finally, Goldwing was tossing a rock with a handle on it into the air and catching it in his jaws. He was standing on two tall pillars of rock with two paws on each one with Nightpaw at the base. She padded between the pillars, slammed her paws down, and hit the columns with her forepaws, causing tremors to go up them.

"ROCK-LIKE!" she cried.

This time, Goldwing didn't flinch; he had learned to stay calm after what happened last time. As his face hardened with determination, he watched as Nightpaw rose on her own pillar of rock and nodded in approval. Goldwing gave her a huge grin and swore that she gave him a smile.

_I'm getting closer!_

**...**

Ashfeather crouched low and slunk in the long grass at the other side of the canyon. He was on the prowl for prey, for he felt that it was his duty to feed his Clan. But even though the pack only had four cats, he felt that this was a second Clan he was loyal to.

All of a sudden, there was a swishing noise in the grass that got closer. With a yowl, Ashfeather unsheathed his claws and clambered up the nearest red cedar tree as fast as his paws could carry him. He gripped the bark carefully with his claws to avoid sliding off and falling into the jaws of a predator.

But what he saw made him almost coo.

The creature making the rustling noise was a little creature about his size that looked like a baby rhino. It did look like one, except there was a lump of skin behind its head and it had a longer tail than a normal rhino. It also had orange coloring on the top and a yellow belly and jaws. When it saw berries on a raspberry bush, it squealed with joy, walked over to the bush, and started eating some berries.

"Okay, little whatever you are," Ashfeather meowed, leaping down and facing it. Prey was prey to him. "You're cute, but you're made of meat. Just closer."

The young animal watched as Ashfeather stalked closer and closer. It didn't even try to run, but it was just watching him with curiosity. _Stupid animal!_

He let out a yowl and sprang at the creature, but it moved out of the way. Ashfeather thought it was fleeing, but it had only spotted some more berries. Thus, Ashfeather missed his catch and instead landed in a fissure near the bush; fortunately for him, his front paws and boomerang were still out of the crack. Seeing him, the animal walked over to him and started wagging its tail.

"Gotcha!" Ashfeather howled, lashing his front claws at it.

But he failed because he fell deeper into the fissure and unsheathed his claws. Now he was stuck until only his head was showing out of the ground. He struggled to free himself, but he couldn't budge. He growled as the creature pranced around him, making cute little squealing noises.

Ashfeather muttered, "You are one lucky little animal, you know that?"

**...**

Bearclaw had watched as Irontail made some cream for them to drink; he was impressed with the way his uncle made it correctly. The milk from a wild cow was much better than the milk from the mare (who was now living in the wild). He and Irontail were still sitting in the small faulty shack, lapping up some cream.

Irontail was meowing, "Lightning is a pure version of FireBending excluding the aggression that a normal FireBender uses. It is not fueled by emotion like the way other FireBending forms are. Some call lightning the Fire of Cold Blood." He took the cream pot off the fire and poured it into another kettle. He began to pour two bowls, adding, "It is exact and lethal like Frostfire. To reach the skill involves peace of mind."

He pushed one bowl to Bearclaw, who lapped some cream up and mewed, "So that's why we're drinking cream. It's to calm our minds."

"Oh yeah! Right you are!" Irontail purred. But then he mewed calmly, "I mean, yes. We are."

So they didn't have more to say as they lapped up their cream calmly. Then, after they finished, the two former FireClan cats padded out of the broken-down shack to the cliff outside. Bearclaw could see Irontail squinting when the sunlight lit up his face, which showed that it was a while since he set paw outside. When the fat gray tabby tom stumbled a little, his nephew was there to help steady him a little.

Finally, the two cats had arrived at the edge of a grassy hill overseeing the valley with a walled abandoned city at the bottom. Bearclaw looked around it to admire the scenery.

"You see, Bearclaw, there is energy in nature around us," Irontail began meowing. "The energy is yin and yang; positive and negative energy." He sat down and held out his forepaws to stand for the two forms of energy. "Only a few FireBenders can truly separate these energies. And this creates an inequity. The energy needs to reinstate balance, and the positive and negative energy can strike back together." He brought his paws together to show the point. "You provide release and guidance, creating lightning."

Then Irontail flicked his tail at Bearclaw, signaling for him to step back. He held his right front paw up and, with two claws unsheathed, began to create lightning by circling his paw around his body. He mimicked the motion with his left forepaw while Bearclaw looked on. The young dark brown tabby tom felt impressed.

Irontail brought his two forepaws together and sprang forward with his right forepaw extended, claws drawn out. He whirled around on the spot and shot lightning into the distance. Bearclaw was amazed of what he saw; he hoped to do something like that, feeling like a kit again.

"I want to try it myself," he finally announced.

Irontail turned his head to lick his injured shoulder before looking at his nephew. "Very well. But do not command energy once you split it. Learn to be its humble guide. Breathe first."

So Bearclaw breathed in in and closed his bright golden eyes. Then he began imitating the flows that Irontail performed, except, to his anger, that he did not create traces of lightning. Furiously, Bearclaw snarled with rage and thrust his right front paw forward, but it merely caused a fiery explosion that shoved him backward. He fell on his back next to Irontail, who just shook his head slightly.

Feeling upset, Bearclaw got up by himself and stalk away, feeling angry that he couldn't get it right. If he tried again, he didn't know what would happen during the next lesson. But if he didn't try at all, Frostfire would beat him up...or worse.

**...**

After some time in training, Goldwing and Nightpaw had stopped for a little bit to hunt. Since Silverheart was still the blind she-cat's mentor, Nightpaw had to learn more hunting techniques from her. When they were done eating their fresh-kill, it was straight back to training.

Goldwing felt very nervous when it came to the training. When he had practiced WaterBending with Silverheart, she had been kind and gentle to him. But when he practiced EarthBending with Nightpaw, it was nothing but strict training and discipline. Despite that, he knew that without discipline, he could never perform any of the Bending arts.

"Let's move to something different." Nightpaw's voice made him listen. "Instead of just moving a rock, you're gonna stop one instead. So get your ass into your crane stance!" At this, she pounced at Goldwing and knocked him away from her, making him wince.

Since he didn't want to argue, Goldwing rose onto his hind legs and lifted one hind paw up and his front legs held in an angle like a crane's wings.

Nightpaw sat in front of him with a trail leading up to a cliff behind her. "I'll roll that rock down at you." She used her tail to point up the hill at a large boulder sitting at the top of the cliff. "Stay in that stance and stop that boulder if you've got an EarthBender attitude. Like this."

She pointed her paw to the rock and swung it down to show what she meant. But the Avatar Cat didn't say anything; he looked up at the boulder on its high perch, looming over his head like a buzzard. He couldn't help but fidget, and that caused Nightpaw to glare at him, making him get back into his stance.

"Nightpaw?" Goldwing turned around to see Silverheart approaching them. "Sorry to bother you, but is this really the best way to teach him EarthBending?"

"Glad you mentioned that!" her apprentice replied. She pulled her bag forward from under him and pulled out a green banner, which she wrapped around Goldwing's eyes. "Now this is a better way. Now that he's blindfolded, he'll have to sense the vibrations of the rock to stop it this time. Thanks, Silverheart! I salute to you!"

_Shit. Now it's harder than before! _Goldwing thought. Out loud, he mewed sarcastically, "Yeah. Thanks, Silverheart."

Silverheart just shrugged.

Quickly, Nightpaw leapt up towards the rock until she was on the cliff. Goldwing was waiting at the bottom, waiting for that rock to hurl itself down towards him. Silverheart was watching from a distance, her tail sweeping anxiously across the dusty ground.

Leaping down and using her hind paws, Nightpaw shoved the boulder forward and it began to roll down the slope. Goldwing felt really anxious and frightened as it rolled toward him while Silverheart was looking on, her tail now lashing around in the air. He could hear the rumbling of the boulder as it got closer and closer to him, possibly crushing anything in its path.

Goldwing gritted his teeth while he dug his foreclaws into the ground. He could scent the dusty smell of the rock as it made its way down quickly towards him. A part of him was telling him to use his instincts and leap away, but another part of him was saying to block it quickly. Starting to panic, the young AirClan cat began kneading the dirt with his paws as he tried to decide what to do.

_Dodge it or stop it? Dodge it or stop it? StarClan, what do I do?_

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

_Jump or block? StarClan, show me what to do!_

Panic gripped Goldwing's heart like a paw ready to smash a mouse to a pulp when he heard the rock tumbling down towards him. Unknown to him, Nightpaw was watching him with narrowed pale green eyes while Silverheart was looking away, unable to watch any further. Then he made his decision, hoping that Nightpaw would accept it, for it was a natural way of avoiding danger.

So before it could hit him, Goldwing took a deep breath and leapt with ease over the rock, which rolled past Silverheart and smashed into the side of the canyon. Upon impact, it shattered into a lot of little pieces of rock. Hoping that Nightpaw wouldn't get angry at him, he let her come to him and take the blindfold off. But what happened next made him wrong.

She wasn't nodding at him or anything. Instead, she was glaring at him angrily.

Quickly, he mewed, "I...I just panicked. I don't know what to say..."

"There's nothing left to say," Nightpaw growled. "You blew it. You had the chance and you were in the correct form! But when it came down to it, you didn't show some spine!"

She gave him a rough shove, and it made him tumble a bit. Feeling ashamed, Goldwing lowered himself to the ground, hoping he could succeed in apologizing to his EarthBending mentor. He hoped she would be okay with it.

"I know. I'm sorry."

But Nightpaw leaned in close and snarled, "Yeah, you should be, stupid furball! I see you're not tough enough to stop the rock then! Then at least give the rock the pleasure of smashing you like a bug instead of jumping out of the way like a yellow-bellied pussy! DO you have the stuff to be an EarthBender?"

Goldwing looked down sadly, not looking at the small black she-cat in the eyes. This was an act of submission, but he also did it because he was now close to giving up. He knew he just wasn't good at EarthBending; he tried everything he was taught, but it didn't work.

So he mewed, "I...no."

Nightpaw snorted and stepped back from the Avatar Cat, although she still glared over at him. Apparently seeing that Goldwing was upset, Silverheart padded over to him and sat next to him. She leaned against him and licked his ears in a comforting way to help him feel better.

The silver warrior meowed, "Goldwing, it's okay. How about you take a break, and then you can try again later? Besides, we still have some WaterBending to do. Is that all right?"

"Yeah...sure," Goldwing meowed as he sat up.

Silverheart gave him a soothing smile as she stood up and began to pad away. Goldwing looked over at Nightpaw to see if her attitude had changed, but she was still glaring at him. Groaning, he got up from his spot and followed Silverheart to see if there was some water nearby.

"Sure. Whatever." he could feel Nightpaw's words sear through his brain like a wildfire. "Just splash in a kit pool until you feel better."

Goldwing looked away and walked on as Silverheart looked over her shoulder behind her to give her apprentice a stern and disapproving glare. But Nightpaw was already swaggering off in the reverse path, unaware of her mentor's frustration. Then he watched as she noticed a rabbit nearby and used EarthBending to knock it to her, killing it with her fangs.

Now he felt worse than ever as he followed Silverheart...but this wasn't the only time he felt bad. Goldwing remembered when he was an apprentice, he hid a secret map of Emberstar, father of Silverheart and Ashfeather, from them. He felt bad for doing it, because he didn't want them to leave just yet, but Ashfeather's reaction had made him feel worse. And he also remembered when he burned Silverheart by accident with FireBending.

This wasn't FireBending, but he already felt worthless like an old piece of fresh-kill. He felt it would take a long time before he could EarthBend.

**...**

Another explosion...again. Bearclaw hissed at this as he tried again to get the attack right. He was getting more and more frustrated as he unsheathed his claws while Irontail watched him, leaning against the shack.

He had done everything his uncle had told him to do, but he kept messing up. If Darkstar had been Bearclaw's mentor, then he would be more ruthless in this training than Irontail would be. But he didn't want to think about that; instead, he focused more on trying to stand his ground against Frostfire.

But he couldn't concentrate because of the explosions. After one more, he gave up and sat down on the ground.

"I don't believe this!" he spat. "Every time I try to do it right, it blows up in my face! Why the hell can't I get it right? Nothing's ever right for me!"

But when he looked over his shoulder, he could see Irontail getting up from his spot and padding over to him. His uncle had seemed to be slowly recovering from his wounds.

The fat gray tabby elder explained gently, "I knew this would happen. You cannot learn to master lightning unless you deal with the turmoil bubbling up in your heart."

Bearclaw glared at him. "What turmoil?"

"Bearclaw, if you want your anger to disappear, you have to let go of your humility." Irontail's orange eyes were grave.

"What humility? I don't feel any!" Bearclaw cried out. "I'm just as full of pride as ever!"

Irontail explained, "Listen. I know pride is what makes a FireClan so strong and makes a cat the way it is. But pride is the source of shame, not its object. The key to shame is true humility and following the Warrior Code."

This caused Bearclaw to look down and mew, "Well...my life's been full of humility lately."

"Tell you what, Bearclaw," Irontail meowed, looking to the side. "I have another idea. I could teach you a technique that even Frostfire doesn't know. Do you want to know why?" When Bearclaw shook his head, he added as he smiled, "It's because I created it all by myself!"

Bearclaw couldn't help but smile at this. It was always like Irontail to cheer him up like this in this time of need. Maybe there was a chance to fight against Frostfire after all.

**...**

Ashfeather grumbled as he watched the unknown "little" animal frolicking around him, which looked like torture to him. But no matter how many times he had tried to get out of the fissure, the dark gray tabby warrior couldn't free himself. If only Nightpaw were here to help him out, or Goldwing if he could EarthBend, then he would be back to hunting.

But in the meantime, he was stuck with nothing much to do except stare and talk. This could also expose him to predators. Or even worse...FireClan cats.

"Do you think I deserve this?" he asked the animal. When it looked at him and wagged its tail, he muttered, "I guess you're right. Look, I'm sorry I tried to hunt you, but this is nature. Big animals hunt small animals and eat them, but it's not personal. You know that! But I guess it's the reverse way now."

The baby yawned and walked in a circle around Ashfeather's head before lying down again and closing its eyes. It was now dozing with its head resting on top of his, to his humiliation.

Ashfeather sighed as he meowed, "All right, fine. You're a cute little creature." As the baby made cooing noises in its nap, the WaterClan warrior groaned, "Fine. You convinced me. If I can get outta here _mysteriously_, I'll give up eating meat. It's gonna be nothing but a wittily correct veggie life for me. And no more meat, though it's delicious."

His mouth watered at the thought of fresh squirrel meat or something better: fish. As if it knew what he was thinking, the baby got up and scampered off in the opposite direction. Just then, a fly flew on from the left and began to buzz around Ashfeather's head, making him make some groaning noise as he struggled to swat it away with his head. The fly landed on top of his head, and Ashfeather just grunted in defeat.

Suddenly, Ashfeather's ears began twitching, and the fly flew away from him. It was because the baby creature had finally returned with a Granny Smith apple in its mouth. It stopped in its tracks and rolled the apple toward him.

"Fate's givin' me another chance!" he cheered.

But to his dismay, the apple only made it until only a mouse-length between Ashfeather and the baby creature. He almost wanted to tell the creature to fetch it or he would eat it, but he held it back in time. This time, he would have to depend on himself.

"It's okay, tyke. I got it," Ashfeather meowed, reaching his head to the bag and got it, fortunately. He found his badger-bone boomerang inside and fetched it with his jaws before tossing it at the apple. Unluckily, it only landed right next to the fruit and stayed there. "Return, boomerang!"

The baby animal watched him, its tail waving in the air.

**...**

Goldwing looked over to the side, where he saw Tobias flying after a small leopard frog. He and Silverheart had found a good pond where they could train while the hawk could hunt. Tobias swooped down from the sky and landed on a rock, catching the frog in his talons. But the yellow amphibian wriggled out of his grasp and hopped away. Tobias chased after it and captured it, killing it with a scratch to the back of the neck before falling into the water in an awkward way.

But even with Tobias' funny antics, Goldwing felt his ears flatten with shame as he remembered how he acted in EarthBending. He felt like he was letting Nightpaw down, though he wanted to follow his friend's advice. In fact, he now felt so ashamed that he just weakly helped Silverheart WaterBend a ball of water between them.

"Goldwing, you do know this block is temporary?" Silverheart's voice made him look down.

"Please, Silverheart. I don't wanna talk about it," he muttered miserably.

A sigh made Goldwing look up to see that the beautiful silver she-cat was watching him with concern. He didn't want to disappoint her like he did with Nightpaw, but he didn't want to tell her about what he felt.

But then she meowed, "That's the problem; you know that. If you just face the problem instead of fleeing from it, then..."

But what she said made him look up and snap, "All right, all right! I know! Shit! I have to meet it head-on like a rock!" When he saw her look at him in dismay, he sighed and meowed calmly and sadly, "I'm sorry. I just...I can't do it. I don't know why, but...I can't."

"Listen, Goldwing. Water and Fire are opposite elements, right?" Silverheart meowed, looking calm now. Goldwing nodded, so she went on as if she was training a kit, "So what's the opposite of Air?"

"Earth?" he guessed.

Silverheart nodded. "Yeah. That's why it's hard for you to get through it. You're working with your opposite element, and that's always hard. But have faith. You'll get it right. I promise."

Goldwing took this at heart and looked down to the water, where he could see his reflection. But instead of his own reflection, he could see another cat's face; this cat had bright green eyes and a coat as orange as fire. He felt some nature of power press onto his mind like jaws at seeing this, but he pushed it away with all of his might. When he looked down again, he was staring at his own reflection.

Now Goldwing saw that the cat he loved was right. He had been working with his element, and he had to have more patience from now on. But he didn't have time to think, for Silverheart had sliced off a reed with her claws and yowled, "Think fast!" before tossing it at him.

Goldwing looked up in time to see the reed charging at him like bees chasing after a bear that stole honey. But instead of running away, he planted his hind claws into the mud and lifted up one forepaw while water surrounded it. And when the reed almost reached him, Goldwing leaped into the air...and sliced the reed in two with his claws. His whiskers ruffled as the two halves of the reed passed by him before landing in the water.

"Good job. You have the neat reflexes of a WaterBender," Silverheart praised him.

Goldwing dipped his head to her and mewed, "Thank you...Master Silverheart."

He looked up to see her dark blue eyes widen with wonder before a warm smile widened across her face. To his delight, she lowered her head in a bow of respect. Earlier today, she had been jealous because he didn't call her Master like he did with Nightpaw. But now that he called her that, he had really gotten her confidence back.

Kinking his tail to her to carry on, Goldwing and Silverheart spent some more time practicing their Bending. Now the burden Goldwing had gotten on his shoulders had lightened a little.

**...**

After the talk, Irontail led Bearclaw to sit down in front of them until they sat across from each other. Bearclaw was confused about this until Irontail began using a stick in his jaws to trace the Clans and their symbols. He sat quietly before he let his uncle speak.

"Fire is the element of power. The cats of FireClan have aspiration and willpower, and their own energy and ambition to achieve in what they want. Earth is the element of substance. The cats of EarthClan are varied and durable. They are obstinate yet stable. Air is the element of liberty. The cats of AirClan had separated themselves from worldly worries and found peace and freedom. And rumor has it that they had pretty good senses of humor!"

He purred at this and looked at his nephew, but Bearclaw didn't smile back. He really didn't find this funny, for that reminded him of the Avatar Cat.

Sighing, Irontail went on, "Water is the element of change. The cats of WaterClan are capable of changing to many things. They have a deep sense of kinship and love that holds them together through anything."

"Uncle?" Bearclaw asked him, feeling confused now. "Why are you telling me this?"

"It is wise to learn about the neighboring Clans around you and gain their wisdom," the elderly tom replied. "Your entire life may become strict and humdrum if we draw wisdom from only one place. But if we understand the other Clans and their elements, then we can become whole. That also goes for cats outside the Clans and the Warrior Code."

Bearclaw was surprised yet rapt about this. Before he was exiled, he only knew about FireClan territory and FireBending, so he had felt a little stale. But now that he was a rogue and Irontail was telling him this, he could understand some more.

_StarClan, I don't know if you're watching over us now. But help us in our fight against Frostfire._

**...**

Goldwing sat on a small mushroom-shaped rock, meditating by wrapping his tail around his paws and closing his eyes. Silverheart's words drummed into his brain like an angry jellyfish, but he was thankful for her advice. If it weren't for her, he believed, he would go into insanity. And where would leave the world? In ruins.

Tobias was churring in his sleep, and Goldwing looked down at him in time, for Nightpaw had suddenly appeared in front of him. He wondered if she was still mad at him, but she had a weird sly grin on her face instead. Goldwing hated to find out what other grueling task she would lay out for him.

"Hey, Goldwing!" Nightpaw meowed, holding a small bag that said "Goldwing's Nuts: Do Not Touch". "I found some tasty peanuts in this bag! Besides, even if you wanted to, you're too much of a big soft pussy to do anything about it. Isn't that right?"

Goldwing looked down at her in frustration, for she was bullying him into getting his peanuts back. But he didn't want to get into a fight with her like last time, when he had unintentionally driven her away from his pack. He didn't want that to happen again.

So he replied, "Go ahead. I don't mind. I'd be more than happy to share food with my friends." Then he closed his eyes and began meditating again.

Nightpaw mewed, "Good! Glad you feel that way, buddy! I just wanted to show you this nifty stick I found among your stuff! Now I can get those peanuts out of their shells!"

Goldwing's dark gray eyes snapped open; he knew what nutcracker Nightpaw was talking about. In a few seconds, the small black apprentice pulled his glider staff from behind him and tossed it into the air before catching it in her jaws. The golden Avatar Cat flinched at what would happen if his only weapon and other travelling item were abused.

Then it happened. Nightpaw smiled up at him sketchily, lifted up the staff with her jaws, and slammed it down onto a stray peanut, smashing it open to reveal the nuts inside. He wished he hid his glider staff more accurately.

"Actually, I'd rather say you shouldn't..." Goldwing began.

But there was another crack as Nightpaw slammed the staff down and smashed another peanut. This made him cringe.

Goldwing tried again a little inversely, "Nightpaw, that's an antique! It was crafted by the monks of AirClan..."

Another crack. Goldwing felt more frustrated as he cringed and tried again.

"...it's a fragile tool!"

However, Nightpaw just ate some of the smashed peanuts by shoveling them into her mouth and eating like a pig. Tobias had probably heard the cracks, for he had woken up and started nipping at the crumbs like a songbird.

"It's not the only fragile tool _I_ see!" she taunted mockingly back at him.

Yawning, she got up and padded off with Tobias, carrying Goldwing's staff in her jaws. She hit it along rocks as she padded away, casting a mocking jeering look at the Avatar Cat before she left. Glaring after her, Goldwing settled himself down and tried reciting a tale of Ga'Hoole he heard a few times.

_"Once upon a time before there were kingdoms of owls, in a time of ever-raging wars, there was an owl born in the country of the North Waters and his name was Hoole."_

But he heard Silverheart's voice meow, "Goldwing..."

He snapped back, "I'm meditating here!"

"Very funny, smartass, but this is important!" her voice snapped. Then her voice grew soft as she meowed, "Ashfeather's not back yet, and the sun's almost down! We should look for him."

Goldwing looked around his shoulder, catching sight of Silverheart's anxious look on her face. He wished he didn't speak so sharply to her, but it was because of Nightpaw. Sighing, he leapt down from the rock and padded up to her until they were face-to-face.

"If we split up, we'll find him faster," he told her.

Silverheart nodded and sprinted off in one direction while Goldwing went in another. He hoped Ashfeather was okay and that another predator didn't catch him yet. If a fox got him, he would blame himself for not rescuing his friend on time. But he couldn't think of that right.

He had a friend to save.

**...**

Ashfeather growled as the baby animal began chewing on his ears. The horny beak it had was enough to pierce the ears, but it wasn't enough to tear a hole through it. But he had enough.

So he prayed, "Look, God or karma or whoever StarClan sent here, if I get outta here alive, I'll give up meat forever!" He growled as the baby bit on his ears some more before he went on, "It's basically my identity!" When the baby left, he mewed, "I was Ashfeather, the meat and sarcasm cat. But now I'll be Ashfeather, the veggies and straight talk bloke."

But then, he saw a familiar cat with a golden pelt rush t towards him. It was Goldwing, his white arrow stripes glowing in the dying sunlight.

"Goldwing!" Ashfeather rasped. "Thank StarClan you came! You got a fish on ya? I'm starving!"

"You're okay!" Goldwing greeted him, stopping in front of him.

But then he grabbed his scruff and began to pull. This was enough to make Ashfeather groan, "Ow! Stop it! You'll pull the fur off of my scruff!"

Goldwing let go and sat down, thinking. "Sorry. Maybe I can AirBend you out."

He rose to his hind paws and smashed his front paws down, causing a huge gust of air to erupt from the crevice that sent dust flying. When the dust cleared, Ashfeather still felt trapped and his head fur was blown up in what resembled a Mohawk. His boomerang came down and hit him in the head, flattening the Mohawk.

"Okay, I know you're just a novice EarthBender and all that shit," Ashfeather meowed. "But can you can use it to help me out here? How about it?"

To his confusion, the AirClan warrior looked down to the ground, looking uncertain of himself. Ashfeather wondered what had happened to make him look like that, so he kinked his head to him to let him continue. If it was Avatar Cat stuff, he could try his best to listen.

Finally, he mewed, "I can't. I...I just can't do it."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Giving up on AirBending Ashfeather out of the crevice, Goldwing sat down, wrapped his tail around his paws, and began thinking. How could he try to get the dark gray tabby out of there without hurting him? He felt that Nightpaw could help, but asking her for that would make her view him more as a coward.

As if reading his mind, Ashfeather told him in an annoyed tone, "Well, can you get Nightpaw to help me out?"

"I...can't do that either," Goldwing confessed, looking away from him and looking to the setting sun. He stood up and began pacing around, thinking about what else to say.

"What? Why not?"

Goldwing looked back at him. "I don't know. It'll just seem too... awkward."

Ashfeather looked down to the ground. "Awkward, eh?" Looking up at his friend, he mewed, "Well, I for one won't do anything to make you feel awkward, my friend. I'm an open book. So go ahead and say whatever goes on in your head."

"Thanks, Ashfeather." Goldwing was grateful for his goofy yet faithful friend. He padded over to him and sat down next to him. "I'm just feeling confused right now about this EarthBending shit. I mean, there's a lot of pressure in doing it, and other cats expect me to do it perfectly since I'm the Avatar Cat. It puts me in a situation I don't like."

"A situation you don't like," Ashfeather repeated, looking down at the crack he was stuck in. "I know how you feel."

The golden cat nodded and went on, "Well, if I try my best, I screw it up. But if I don't try, then I won't get it. It feels like I'm being crushed between a rock and a hard place."

But just when Ashfeather was about to say something else, the thorn bushes in front of them started to crackle. What came out of the bushes made Goldwing eye it with wonder: a small orange-&-yellow animal had wandered out and was sniffing the air. Catching sight of them, the animal squealed with delight and ran over to them, licking Ashfeather like it was a dog.

Goldwing felt that this was a baby dinosaur since it was gazing at them with its curious face. Young baby dinosaurs were adventurous and they also loved to play.

**(Author's Note: In other words, they're like the dinosaur kids from The Land Before Time.)**

"Huh. How about that," Ashfeather commented when it finished licking him. "Goldwing, this is my new friend named Choo Choo Fluffykins. Choo Choo Fluffykins, Goldwing."

"Aww," Goldwing cooed, letting the baby dinosaur lick him happily. "That's a cute name for a baby Triceratops."

The WaterClan warrior looked up at him, amazed. "Huh? It doesn't look like a Triceratops."

Goldwing held the baby Triceratops still with his front paws as he studied it. "That's because the horns haven't developed and the frill could take several months to grow. They use the horns and frill to defend themselves from predators. I know it's hard to tell, but you'll see later." Looking at the baby, he cooed, "Aww, what're you doing out here, little guy? Where'd your mama go?"

The baby ceratopsian tilted its head to one side, but before Goldwing could say anything else, a loud bellow echoed across the canyon walls. The young golden AirClan warrior looked around his shoulder to see a larger Triceratops stomping towards them. It was a large beast with a dark gray overtone with a light gray underbelly, the three thick horns on its head, and a mean look on its face.

When the baby Triceratops saw the adult, it ran over to it and nuzzled it before running off to join Goldwing while an adult pink Triceratops watched. Since this was possibly a female and the baby's mother, Goldwing supposed that the angry dinosaur was a male and the baby's father.

Now Goldwing was left with the male Triceratops, who pawed the ground and shook his head while the female and the baby left the battle. He had to fight.

**...**

"WaterBending cats deal with the current of energy. A WaterBender lets their defense moves become their attacks, turning their foes' force against them. I learned from cats of WaterClan, so I learned a different way to do this with lightning."

Irontail had been instructing Bearclaw about how lightning was like WaterBending. Even though Bearclaw was no WaterBender and never would be (unlike the silver she-cat who was with the Avatar Cat), he was amazed.

"So you can teach me to direct it?" Bearclaw mewed, excitement running in his veins.

Irontail nodded. "The lightning will follow the energy if you let the energy in your body flow." He pointed with his right paw at an angle into the air and pointed at it with his other paw. "You must create a path from your claws up your muscles to your shoulder and down into your belly." He moved his left front paw from his muscles to his shoulder and then to his stomach. "Your belly is the source of energy in your body. It is the sea of chi. In my case, it's like a vast ocean!"

Then the fat gray tabby tomcat laughed, but Bearclaw didn't laugh. He still remained passive, for he desperately wanted to learn how to direct lightning. Seeing this, Irontail sighed and went on.

"You direct it up again and out the other paw." He pointed off into the distance with his left paw. "The stomach detour is critical. You must not let the lightning pass through your heart or the damage could be deadly."

At that, Irontail limped up to Bearclaw and pointed his claws gently at his nephew's chest. Bearclaw felt rather uneasy; it was like watching Frostfire almost killing his uncle all over again. But this time, he would use that lightning to throw it back at her.

"You may wish to try a bodily motion to get a feel for the path's flow. Like this." He pointed to the left with both his arms and Bearclaw imitated the motion. Irontail then took his right front paw and pointed it in the other way; Bearclaw mimicked this move as well. Then the two rogues moved their left front paws to the right and back again. "Are you focusing your energy? Do you feel your chi flowing in, down, up, and out ?"

"I think so," the dark brown tabby replied.

At this, he continued copying the moves Irontail taught him. Irontail was sitting on his haunches and swaying his front paws in the air in a sweeping motion.

His uncle encouraged him, "Come on, Bearclaw. Feel the flow!"

It took several hours to finish until sunset. By the time the sun was ready to sink behind the mountains, Bearclaw had started to get the hang of it.

"Excellent, Bearclaw!" Irontail praised him. "You're getting it!"

Bearclaw felt happy under the elder's praise, for it felt as warm as his mother's fur. "Awesome! Now I wanna try _real_ lightning!"

To his surprise and small annoyance, Irontail gave him an inquisitive look. "What? Have you got bees in your brain? Lightning is a dangerous force of nature."

"But I thought that was the point," Bearclaw meowed, starting to feel annoyed. "You know, teaching me to protect myself from lightning?"

"Yes, but I can't go around shooting lightning at you!" Irontail protested, his eye twitching at the last comment. "Maybe if you get lucky, then you won't have to use that skill to defeat Frostfire!"

A distant sound of thunder made Bearclaw look up at the sky. There was a thunderstorm brewing on the horizon, and he had a faint memory of Irontail directing lightning away from the ship they travelled on. He knew that somehow, someway, he could create some lightning to use against his former littermate.

So he looked back to Irontail and growled, "Well, if you won't teach me to direct it, I'll find some other lightning."

Immediately, as if called by an unspoken command, the pregnant mare had arrived and allowed Bearclaw to leap onto her back. Despite the mare being pregnant, her stomach wasn't swollen with her unborn foal yet; thus, she was still capable of carrying some kinds of weight. Bearclaw settled down on top of the mare to look back at his uncle.

Irontail's amber eyes were closed as if he accepted this, but there was a faint tremble that rippled through his aged body. Bearclaw could feel his uncle's aged concern like the sun warming the tip of his fur on a warm day. Despite that, however, that wasn't going to stop him from training hard to defeat Frostfire and reclaim his right as a warrior.

_If I don't, I'll lose everything I ever wanted. Honor...and the chance to make Father see me as a true warrior..._

Giving the mare a sharp yowl, the dark tabby rode off to a place to find some training. He didn't see Irontail open his eyes, which were filled with concern and mild sadness.

**...**

"H-Hey there, big guy. We've got your kid!" Goldwing mewed tensely as the male Triceratops kept pawing the ground. The baby dinosaur was beside the golden AirClan warrior, looking from left to right.

The Triceratops let out a bellow, which made the baby scuttle over to its father and nuzzle him again before running off towards its mother. The pink female Triceratops, who seemed to see no harm in Goldwing, gave a low growl and plodded off to another part of the canyon. Her mate glanced over at her and his offspring before whirling back to Goldwing.

The Avatar Cat himself meowed, "See? There you go! There's no problem with that!"

However, the large animal let out a furious roar as he tossed his head to and fro, his three horns glinting in the dying sunlight. By the way he was glaring at Goldwing, he was angry at him for being near his offspring.

"Goldwing, I do _not_ like this!" Ashfeather squealed when he heard the dinosaur roar. "Get me out of this hellhole! Literally!"

Roaring once more, the Triceratops lowered his head and began charging towards the two cats like crazy. Ashfeather closed his eyes with fright and squeaked a few times, but Goldwing stood his ground. At first, though, he felt like leaping over the charging beast and run to Nightpaw and Silverheart for help. But he couldn't leave his friend to get trampled; besides, going to get help from Nightpaw would make her taunt him more.

So he took a deep breath, and, when the Triceratops got nearer, AirBended the charging creature over his head. But it was for a short distance and it barely passed over Ashfeather's head, landing on its large feet and roaring once again. The ancient behemoth pawed the ground again, lowered its head, and charged once again.

"I REALLY do not like this!" Ashfeather wailed to Goldwing. Then what he said next made the golden cat nervous: "You gotta EarthBend me outta here! Hurry!"

Goldwing almost told the dark gray tabby tom to wait until Nightpaw could come and free him. But when he saw the gray Triceratops charging at him again, he had to try it now. So he lifted up his tail, rose to his hind paws, and crashed his front paws to the earth. But instead of earth rising up to the sky and freeing his friend, nothing happened. Goldwing gave Ashfeather a nervous grin before turning around to see what the Triceratops was doing.

It had stopped charging at one point, for it was taking its time to sharpen its horns on a nearby palm tree. Then it turned its armored head towards the two cats, snorting and pawing the ground once again. But now it was glaring at Ashfeather again, for its mean little eyes were filled with blind anger.

_Oh shit! What do I do! _Goldwing thought madly. Getting an idea all of a sudden, he leaped away from Ashfeather onto an outcropping of a rock jutting out of a cliff. When he got on, he stood on his hind legs and let out a yowl for the Triceratops to pay attention.

"Hey! Over here! Look at me!" Goldwing called. He turned around away from it to waggle his behind at the monster to get its attention.

However, sadly, the Triceratops turned away from him and began to charge at Ashfeather, the earth rumbling from its charging. Goldwing pounced off the ledge to land next to Ashfeather before leaping into the air and sending a gust of air at the Triceratops, blowing it away from his friend. The Triceratops landed on its feet and spun around once again, tossing its head about and roaring angrily.

Ashfeather sighed with relief before telling Goldwing, "Don't leave me like that again."

"I won't. I promise you that," Goldwing replied, his voice full of determination.

He stood his ground and crouched low to the ground, his tail brushing up dust, as the Triceratops raced nearer and nearer. Goldwing was getting ready for a swift AirBending attack head-on to show Nightpaw soon that he could attack head-on. Finally, he leaped up into the air and thrust one forepaw forwards in an uppercut, using AirBending to move the massive animal away from him and his friend with a strong gust of wind.

The Triceratops fell with a thud on the ground, slightly injured but alive. He lifted himself to his feet, glared over at Goldwing, and ambled slowly towards his mate and child, who joined him in walking to another area in the canyon. Goldwing himself was happy while the dust settled; if he had went away to fetch Nightpaw, Ashfeather would have been crushed under those heavy feet.

A slow clapping sound made Goldwing turn around to see where the noise was coming from. It came from Nightpaw, who was sitting on her haunches on a rock and clapping her front paws together slowly. Goldwing felt confused at what was going on.

"Nightpaw? What the hell are you doing here?" Ashfeather asked her with surprise.

The small blind black she-cat stopped clapping. "Enjoying the show. Why?"

"So you sat there the entire time? And didn't help us?" Goldwing asked, feeling his blood boil.

"I guess you can say that," Nightpaw just answered.

Goldwing felt his blood boil in anger like hot lava when he heard this. How dare Nightpaw just sit there and watch her friends being trampled by a dinosaur! Right away, he felt like clawing a lot of sense into the EarthClan apprentice. That would teach her a thing or two about lying about and watching her friends get attacked.

But he wasn't like that. Instead, he leaped up to her, stuck his muzzle to hers until they were just whiskers away, and snarled, "Why the hell didn't you do anything? Ashfeather was just in danger from being trampled by a dinosaur! And I was in trouble since I can't EarthBend! You could've helped us out by freeing Ashfeather and helping us escape!"

But Nightpaw didn't look defying or hurt from those accusations. Instead, she just shrugged and nodded. "I guess I didn't think of that before."

Then she pulled Goldwing's staff from behind her and let him see it; it still made Goldwing mad that she was using it for a nutcracker. Nightpaw picked the staff up in her jaws and raised it high in the air, preparing to smash down onto a nut she brought with her. Anger roaring in his blood as angrily as a lion, Goldwing leapt up into the air and caught one end in his jaw before it was brought down.

"Enough is enough!" he spat at her forcefully. "Give me my staff back! Now!"

He yanked it away from her, but Nightpaw didn't look like she was going to grab it again. As an alternative, she was gazing at him with some kind of willpower and, when he leaped away from her off the rock, she followed him down. Then, she uttered two words:

"Do it."

Goldwing glared at her. "Do what?"

"EarthBending, dumbass," the black cat retorted. "Look, Twinkletoes, you stood up to a big ol' prehistoric monster; that takes skill. But what impressed me was that you just stood up to me. You've got the guts be to an EarthBender."

"What?" Goldwing mewed, his anger dissolving into confusion.

Nightpaw rolled her eyes. "DO IT!"

Goldwing gave her a confused stare before turning to face the rock they were on a few moments ago. The golden AirClan warrior stomped the ground with his paw and swung his head forward. To his amazement, the rock moved away and landed with a crash a short distance away from them.

The Avatar Cat stared on in shock for a few seconds before becoming excited and relieved. He had finally learned to use the element that was opposite to his element: air. But after facing off with the Triceratops and standing up to his EarthBending mentor, he finally did it. He could EarthBend now.

"You did it!" Nightpaw meowed with pride. "You're an EarthBender!"

"This is...this is awesome!" he squeaked, his voice sounding like a kit's for a moment. "I can't believe it!"

Ashfeather's voice made the two cats turn around as he commented, "Aww, that's nice. How about you set me free from this hellhole and I give you two a big ol' hug?"

Goldwing nodded. "Sure!"

He was about to free him when Nightpaw blocked his path by holding out a foreleg to block him. When Goldwing was going to complain, the black cat told him, "Just let me handle this, okay, Twinkletoes? You can EarthBend now, but you're new at this and you could crush him."

"That's right. No crushing, please," Ashfeather mewed with a wide smile on his face.

Nightpaw nodded, padded up to Ashfeather, and lifted her left forepaw before stomping it down. The WaterClan warrior popped out of the hole like a weasel and Nightpaw grabbed his scruff, dragging him out as she ambled away. Goldwing followed them, skipping around and wriggling like he was on fire, though he wasn't.

Silverheart's speech about learning to face his opposite element made him feel better than before. He was sure that the silver cat he loved would praise him for the hard work.

**...**

Despite not being injured, Ashfeather did seem to limp along the way back to camp. Goldwing supposed staying in that hole for a few hours seemed to have given his friend quite a cramp. So he helped steady Ashfeather on the left with his shoulder while Nightpaw helped by steadying him on the right side her own shoulder. She was carrying the Avatar Cat's staff in her jaws, but Goldwing had let her carry it this time.

After they stopped to hunt for a bit, the three cats finally arrived back to camp all safe and sound. As soon as Ashfeather recovered well enough to walk, they were quickly greeted by Silverheart.

"You found him!" she cheered, running up to her brother while nuzzling him and licking him.

Ashfeather returned the licks as he explained, "The whole time I was in there, not knowing if I'd live or die, it makes a warrior think about what's really important. I realize now that..."

"Silverheart! Watch this!" Goldwing called out.

As the silver she-cat turned to look at him, Goldwing stomped the ground with his right paw and swung his head around at a nearby rock. That rock was split in half and one half blocked the path from the Triceratops territory and leaned against the canyon wall.

Silverheart dashed up to Goldwing and nuzzled him, purring happily, "You did it, Golding! I knew you could do it! I'm so proud of you!" Turning towards Nightpaw, she asked her, "So you used the positive reinforcement after all, huh?"

"Yeah," Nightpaw told her mentor. "It does all kind of wonders and all the other shit you talk about."

Roaring sounds made Goldwing turn to see Archie walk up to them, wonder in his brown eyes. His owner, meanwhile, raced up to the dragon and hugged him around his muzzle, letting go to rest his paws on Archie's muzzle.

"Archie! I can EarthBend now! Isn't that great?" Goldwing crowed happily. He went into a Bending stance as he went on gladly, "The key to EarthBending is being rooted to the spot. Unmovable by physical or mental ways!"

But when Archie licked his small owner with his python-long tongue, Goldwing fell over from the force of the lick. Ashfeather began laughing at that, and the Avatar Cat got up to laugh along with the gray WaterClan warrior. Soon enough, Silverheart and Nightpaw joined the two toms in laughing along.

Finally, Goldwing knewhow to EarthBend. Of course there were more EarthBending moves to learn, but he was willing to work hard. As long as Nightpaw trained him hard in her ways of EarthBending, he could be on his way to defeat Darkstar. Plus, he felt like he could do anything alongside his friends like defeating FireClan in a few moons.

_I'm on my way!_

**...**

Rain sprayed into Bearclaw's face like blood from prey or from another cat. When the moon had risen in the sky, clouds had covered it, and it began to storm like a hurricane. The dark brown tabby tomcat was sitting on the peak on top of the mountain where he and the mare rode to. He glared up at the stars, which were covered by clouds as well.

"StarClan! You've always thrown everything you could at me! I can take it! And now I can give it back!" Bearclaw howled to the sky in torment. Some lightning flashed from a distance and he cringed at this a little. But he stood up and howled, "_Come on! Strike me! You haven't held back before! Don't hold back now!_"

He closed his amber eyes as tears threatened to fall to the ground. The rain crashed down on him harder than ever as the lightning got nearer by the second. Bearclaw crouched low to the ground before raising his head to up the heavens and letting out an ear-piercing screech. It was a screech of betrayal and loss.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Well, that's the end of that chapter. And someone from FanFiction gave me this bit of advice...**

**Aang: What is it?**

**AvatarCat12: I'm getting there. I could write every chapter and just wait until they're all finished before going on.**

**Katara: Hmmm...that doesn't sound bad.**

**Aang: I'll say. Now let's go to the review and preview for The Ancient Library! (To the readers) Read and review, please! That way, you can get a virtual cookie cake with any ice cream flavor you choose! Constructive criticism and advice is allowed, but flames aren't.**

**Preview: The four Clan cats have decided to take a little break before carrying on with their mission. When choosing a vacation, Ashfeather decides to visit an ancient library to learn about FireClan. But while they explore, he discovers something that could turn the war around in their favor.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	11. The Ancient Library

**AvatarCat12: I've been ordering quite a few books lately like Varjak Paw, Raptor Red, Dogs of the Drowned City, and Flowers In The Attic.**

**Katara: I've heard of that book!**

**AvatarCat12: You have?**

**Aang: Actually, we've seen the movie and not read the book. We'll read the book soon, but it sounds as exciting as the movie.**

**Katara: I bet so.**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. Now it's time for the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: None are mine.**

**Summary: The four Clan cats have decided to take a little break before carrying on with their mission. When choosing a vacation, Ashfeather decides to visit an ancient library to learn about FireClan. But while they explore, he discovers something that could turn the war around in their favor.**

**Uploading Date: May 5, 2012**

**Both: Enjoy!**

**...**

_The Ancient Library_

It was a sunny morning as Goldwing sat on the ground before Archie, his tail wrapped around his paws. He and his pack were at a prairie, the landscape mostly empty except small shoots of grass bending in the breeze. There was a large series of mountains behind him in the distance, and the ground before him was littered with holes.

"So...what's out here?" Ashfeather meowed, confused.

Nightpaw felt the ground with one paw. "A lot, actually. There are lots and lots of small..."

"Shhh!" Goldwing hissed softly through a mouthful of flute. "Don't ruin the surprise. I know you can see things under the ground, but I wanna show you. Watch!"

Sitting on his thighs, he took the flute out of his mouth, wrapped his paws around one end, and blew a note with it. As soon as he was finished with that part, a small prairie dog poked itself out of its hole and sang the same note. These were the singing prairie dogs of the southern EarthClan continent, Ashfeather thought and smirked to where the tiny animal had vanished.

Goldwing played another note, and another prairie dog emerged from a hole close to him like the other one had done before. This prairie dog sang the same note before going back into the hole. The golden Avatar Cat smiled and raised his flute into the air, maybe to show the prairie dogs his instrument. Ashfeather, however, wasn't interested; he wanted to find a way to defeat FireClan for good.

Ashfeather saw his golden friend turn to the others as he meowed, "If you're confused at what I'm doing, then I'll tell you. I'm building an orchestra."

"Orchestra? Well, la dee da," Ashfeather replied, tossing his head from side to side while saying this.

Ignoring Silverheart's stern look, Ashfeather watched as Goldwing studied the many holes before him. In a row, prairie dogs emerged from a hole, and each sang a note in descending order. They all descended back down their burrows as Tobias flew tothem and went down the hole to the left. A moment later, the hawk's head emerged from the middle hole, cawing with confusion.

Goldwing played some more notes, and every time, a different prairie dog emerged from one of the burrows and matched it. Silverheart was giggling as Tobias flew out of the hole and chased after each prairie dog, cawing more blankly than ever. Even Nightpaw's tail was twitching with each tune that was being played; she seemed to also like this.

But Ashfeather didn't want to hear anymore. As soon as Goldwing began playing another note, he stalked up to him and plugged one claw into the other end of the flute. This made muffling sounds and caused Goldwing's cheeks to swell with air. Silverheart and Nightpaw were giving Ashfeather indignant looks, but he ignored them.

"This sure is a damn good orchestra and all, but I think we got a more important thing to think about," he told the Avatar Cat sternly, releasing the hole. "We should make plans, not goof off."

"But we DID make plans," Nightpaw told him. "We're picking out small vacations."

Ashfeather frowned at her. "We don't have time for a vacation, Nightpaw."

Goldwing looked up at his WaterClan friend, for it was Ashfeather who was taller than he was. "I'm learning the elements as fast as I can. Both Nightpaw and Silverheart have trained me good in EarthBending and WaterBending. I've been training my ass off!"

Those other words made Ashfeather look at him strangely. He hadn't mentioned FireBending, which meant that he still blamed himself for burning his friend's sister.

"He's right." Silverheart padded up to Goldwing's side. "What's so bad about a vacation once in a while?"

"Look. Even if you DO master the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the land of FireClan. Should we just head west until we reach Darkstar's mansion?" He put on a fake happy voice and knocked on Goldwing's head, saying, "'Knock knock! Hello? Darkstar? You home?'" Goldwing stared blankly at him, so the dark gray warrior went on, "Thought so. We need some information if we're gonna win this war."

Goldwing continued to stare at him until...he played one more note on his flute, and a prairie dog popped out of a hole underneath Ashfeather, surprising him. Ashfeather let out a yowl of surprise while his sister laughed as Tobias peeked down the hole. Goldwing put the flute into his bag and Bended a small gust of air to get up on his paws.

Silverheart rolled her eyes and replied, "All right, you big furball. We'll look for your info after we finish our vacation."

Goldwing laughed at that little joke while Silverheart purred back, her tail swishing from left to right. Ashfeather, however, was confused about this; it didn't sound too funny, but Goldwing was laughing about that. He wondered if he was laughing about that because he liked her a lot and not just for power or looks.

_Well, he better not hurt her! Like last time..._

Finally, the four cats took a map out from on Archie's saddle and began looking all over it. On it was what appeared to be a town with an iceberg in the middle. To the left was a mountain range. Ashfeather glanced down at the picture of the iceberg; it reminded him of how he and Silverheart had freed Goldwing from the White Stone moons ago.

"Your turn, Silverheart," Goldwing mewed to the silver WaterClan warrior, who was studying the map. "Where would you like to go for your vacation?"

Silverheart leaned down to the map, her whiskers brushing its surface. Then she planted a paw on the iceberg place and meowed, "How about here? The Kasumi Sabaku Oasis? It sounds very refreshing to me."

Goldwing purred. "I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring, and I normally use the word pure instead of pristine. It's one of nature's greatest wonders."

**...**

"I suppose new owners came here while I was away," Goldwing mewed with a nervous laugh.

The four cats, dragon, and hawk had arrived at the Kasumi Sabaku Oasis entry. But it looked nothing like it did on the map; instead of friendly cats at the entrance, there were just three sand gliders to the left. Inside the walls were several small houses made of dry mud. There were no palm trees like a normal oasis, and the ice spring in the middle was barely visible.

As the pack padded through the gates, they saw the changes of this place. An old sign hanging overhead fell to the ground with a loud crash and shattered into several pieces, causing the pack to turn around in surprise. The four Clan cats gasped as they padded past the melting iceberg in the spring. It was only a few cat-lengths high, and a Bernese mountain dog was licking at it for water. One of the mud houses had a large doorway covered by a green cloth. Loitering outside the doorway were cats wearing light brown clothing and wrapped in rags. They glanced at the Clan cats as they padded inside.

Before Ashfeather could enter, however, the nearest cat hacked up a furball and launched it at his paws. The dark gray tabby tom leapt back and hissed with revulsion as he avoided the hairball. He glared around at this cat as he slid his claws out while the cat, who was brown with a white visor with thin rectangular slits across his eyes, leered at him with a quite toothless sneer.

This cat leaned against the wall, and Ashfeather still glared at him. However, Silverheart quickly turned around and pulled him away and into the door, in order to prevent a fight from breaking out swiftly. Ashfeather gave the other cat one more glare before going inside behind his sister.

"Don't start fighting," Silverheart warned him.

"He was asking for it," he retorted, but he let it go as the pack looked inside the building.

The inside appeared to be a restaurant, lit by shadowy lamps hanging from poles. To the left side were two customers sitting at a wooden table. A tabby cat took a swig from a cup he was holding while a ginger cat wearing a high orange hat fell asleep, resting his head on the table's surface, his shoulders rising and falling as he snored. To the left was a bar, ornate with various hanging fruit. Sitting at a stool was another sleeping tabby wearing dull green clothing and a thin white headband.

The bartender was brown tabby with some dark brown fur around his muzzle. He was wearing a green tunic, a white apron, and brown armbands around his biceps. There were two thin swords hanging across his back by leather straps, forming an X. Speaking to the bartender was a light brown tabby tom with dark brown stripes, wearing loose white clothing, and a circular white hat. Hanging from his back were a backpack and a sleeping bag. There was a big skin pouch hanging from around his neck.

"One banana and mango smoothie, please," the tabby cat was meowing to the bartender.

The bartender nodded and placed objects around him. To his left were stacks of bowls, and to his right was a double handled pitcher with a long narrow neck.

The bartender pulled both swords from their sheaths and swung at a bowl, cutting it from the stack. He picked it up with both swords and placed it on a cutting board in the middle. Then he cut down four large fruits that were hanging overhead, two bananas and two mangos. Then the bartender rapidly chopped the fruit into several small pieces with both swords and dumped them and juice into a clay-made bowl to complete the drink.

Ashfeather watched on as the bartender placed the bowl drink in the middle. He dropped a thin bamboo straw and a small green umbrella into the bowl as the finishing touch. The light brown tabby tom took the drink and dropped a golden Galleon with the EarthClan symbol on the board, which the bartender took. Goldwing and Silverheart looked amazed and impressed by this while Ashfeather looked on pensively.

"Hmmm...I guess it's okay to have a drink while we make plans," he muttered with interest.

The three others looked at the dark gray tomcat with mild surprise. Earlier, he had refused to take a break, but he wanted a drink since he saw those skills put to use. Ashfeather smiled a bit as he nudged Goldwing and Nightpaw to the side as he approached the tavern. Behind him, the others shared looks before following him.

When Ashfeather got to the bar, he greeted the bartender, "Excuse me!"

The light brown tabby tom nearby took a lap from his drink and took it into his jaws as he turned around. But when he did, he accidentally bumped into Goldwing, and some of the drink spilt out and drenched the AirClan warrior's shiny golden fur. Silverheart gasped at this, Ashfeather just gawked at the accident, and Goldwing looked around his side to observe the mess.

The light brown tabby looked ashamed, but Goldwing reassured him, "Hakuna Matata, sir. I can clean this up."

To show him, he split his front legs apart and started to shake himself dry, causing gusts of air to show up. His fur was now clean once again, but the other cats had their fur blown back while the tabby tried to keep his hat on.

"You're a living fossil!" the light brown tabby gasped in awe.

"I try my best," Goldwing replied modestly while Nightpaw padded up and sat down next to her mentor.

As Ashfeather gave Silverheart a drink and ordered some more drinks, the light brown tabby tom bowed in respect to Goldwing, who bowed back, before saying, "I am Professor Gobi, head of the anthropology class at the Academy of BoulderClan, though you can call me Gobi." He took Goldwing's head and examined it, meowing, "What Clan camp do you hail from?"

Goldwing replied, "Southern AirClan."

"Splendid!" Gobi exclaimed as he studied Goldwing's skull with a pair of calipers. "Now I must ask you this: What was the primary pastoral product used by your Clan?"

"Um..." Goldwing muttered. "Do rabbit pies count as a pastoral product?"

Gobi replied, "Of course! Intriguing, indeed! I'll have to add that to my journal!"

Silverheart, Ashfeather, and Nightpaw all held drinks and stood behind the two other cats. Gobi pulled a pen and note pad from his back pack and began writing in it.

"Professor," Ashfeather spoke up. "You really seem to have travelled a lot. Our map seems to be a bit out-of-date. Do you have a more current map on you?"

"Yes," Gobi replied with a nod as he took a scroll from his bag.

Ashfeather civilly took the scroll and laid it down onto the table, unrolling it carefully. Nightpaw was lying down beside the table, her forelegs draped around a cup and lapping up her fruit drink. Goldwing was now holding a drink of his own in his jaws and set it down before lapping from it. Silverheart was just watching them as she lapped up her drink quick to look at the map, shaking her head a bit from a brain freeze effect.

But Ashfeather saw that something was missing. "No FireClan? Doesn't anyone have a good map of FireClan?"

Silverheart planted a paw on the map, which had a large desert with paths drawn on to it, and commented, "Professor, you've surely made several trips in the Deathly Desert."

Gobi sighed. "I'm afraid it was all without success. I've found lost cultures all over EarthClan, but I haven't found the crown jewel...the Wan Shi Tong Library."

"So you spent moons walking through the desert to find some ol' library?" Nightpaw asked him.

"Yes," the light brown tabby tom replied. "That library has knowledge that is more prized than gold. It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge, and knowledge...is priceless."

However, Nightpaw just yawned. "Great. Must be a good time you're having."

Ignoring Nightpaw's sarcastic remark, Gobi went on, "Oh, it is indeed. According to legend, it was built by the wisdom spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with help from his foxy Wisdom Hunters."

Some of those words made Ashfeather look up from the map, hearing one part of them that attracted his attention. "Oh, this Wan Shi Tong guy has some lovely assistants, eh?"

"Ashfeather, I think he means they're real foxes," Silverheart rebuked him, giving him a slight nudge. "Dumbass."

Ashfeather looked at her with shock. Foxes had been enemies to the Clans as far as any cat could remember, and they could kill a cat just for the fun of it. Badgers were also bad, but there had been a badger named Midnight who helped the old Clans in helping them find their new homes and fighting off the other badgers attacking ThunderClan. No fox had helped a Clan cat, though it was partly thanks to a fox that they found Goldwing.

"Both of you are right," Gobi interrupted them. "Handsome animals, aren't they?" He reached into his bag, pulled out some scroll, and unrolled it. "Wan Shi Tong and his Wisdom Hunters gathered books from all over the world, and put them on exhibition for catkind to read, so that we might enhance ourselves."

The Clan cats watched as Gobi placed the scroll down to show them. On it was an architectural drawing of a building with many domes and spires. Ashfeather was amazed at this and delight raced through his brain as he thought of all of this information.

So as calmly as he could, he asked Gobi, "If this library as that many books from all over this planet, do you think they might have maps? Perhaps a map of FireClan territory?"

He could hear Goldwing's tongue lap at his drink as Gobi informed him, "I'm not so sure myself about that, but I'm sure that if there is a map of FireClan, then it'll be at the library of Wan Shi Tong."

"That's settled," Ashfeather decided, sitting on his haunches and pointing a paw up. "Goldwing, I believe it's MY turn for picking a vacation. I'd like to take a vacation..." He unsheathed one claw and stuck it on the air, shouting loudly, "TO THE LIBRARY!"

But the other cats didn't reply; for they stared at him with confusion. There was only the sound of small talk around the pub and the sound of Nightpaw lapping at her drink.

"Hey! What about me?" the black-furred apprentice piped up. "When do I get to pick _my_ own vacation spot?"

Ashfeather looked over at her. "No offense, but you're still an apprentice. Just wait till you're a warrior. Work here a bit longer and you can choose a vacation spot."

Nightpaw just gave a snort, pushed her bowl away, and pouted.

"The hard part, though, is to find this library," Gobi went on after this pause. "I made a few trips into the Deathly Desert, but I haven't succeeded yet." He flattened his ears and hung his head, muttering, "And I almost died every time."

Ashfeather saw Goldwing looking at him and nodding, and he gave a silent nod back. They knew what to do to cheer this cat up, and this surprise was something to make him squeal with glee about AirClan.

"Sir," Ashfeather began in a sly tone. "Would you like to see Goldwing's pet dragon? He's an Asian Lung."

Gobi gasped. "An Asian Lung? You actually have a real one?"

Both toms nodded while Silverheart rolled her eyes and Nightpaw still looked petulant. Soon, the five cats finished their drinks and decided to leave quickly, making Ashfeather wish they could stay a little more. But this was more important. And when the cats came back outside, they saw something that made their fur bristle and their claws unsheathe.

Several of the cats in tatters from earlier were surrounding Archie as if the white-furred dragon was a piece of prey. Ashfeather couldn't believe that some cats would actually dare attack the Avatar Cat's dragon like this. He felt like jumping at them, tearing off those tatters and swiping at their pelts like the fleabags they were. And it appeared that one cat in their group hated this too.

"SandBenders!" Gobi spat, rushing forwards and cuffing one cat on the ear. "Get out of here! Away from the dragon!"

The SandBending cats prowled away and padded back to the gliders they came on. One of them Bended a tornado of sand from underneath the sail, making the glider drive forth. Goldwing just watched on with relief at not having Archie stolen while his friends and Gobi looked on with the same feeling.

**...**

Archie flew overhead and to the desert skyline; they were on their way to the Wan Shi Tong library. While Goldwing drove Archie, his other friends sat in Archie's saddle. Ashfeather had used his old blanket as a turban and tied one end to his head to protect himself from the sun. The dark gray tabby tom took a spyglass from his bag and turned to the side.

Up ahead, Professor Gobi had joined Goldwing and Tobias in sitting on Archie's head. On the saddle, Ashfeather was looking out in the distance with the spyglass. He could see Gobi sticking his head out so he could speak to the flying white dragon.

"So tell me, flying dragon," Gobi began telling Archie. "Are you really the last of your kind?"

Archie growled.

Gobi seemed to take this as a yes, for he exclaimed happily, "Splendid! I wish I could speak in your reptilian tongue! Ah, the stories this magnificent beast could tell!" He rubbed Archie's fur as he sighed while Tobias sat beside him and cawed. Those sounds made Gobi turn around and chide him, "Hush, chatty bird."

Ashfeather watched as Goldwing pulled the scroll out of the bag and opened it up, examining the picture of the library. "It won't be too hard to find it out here. Considering that this is a vast and empty desert, after all."

Some monotonous time had passed as Archie flew on through the desert air, slowly getting quite tired. Silverheart was able to give Archie some water she picked up at the Kasumi Sabaku Oasis, for to run out of the water in the pouch around her neck would spell danger. Besides, she would really need that water for WaterBending.

"Oh, come ON!" Nightpaw groaned, sounding frustrated and bored. "Doesn't this damn place even exist?"

"Some say it doesn't, but it MAY be true. Just MAY," Gobi purred, waving his tail back and forth.

The black she-cat glared at him through narrowed blind eyes. "And you didn't mention it before WHY?" She let out a groan and rested her head on the side of Archie's saddle, staring blankly into the distance.

Gobi ignored that as he busied himself with writing down a few notes while Archie gave a growl and pushed onwards. Ashfeather, meanwhile, continued scanning the area for any hint of a large library, but it had yet to be found. He had begun getting a little thirsty, so he got a water bottle out from his bag and slurped out some water that spilled from the opening.

"There it is!" Nightpaw's shout made the other cats look at her in surprise. She was pointing her tail somewhere out towards the desert, but there wasn't anything in sight. The three warriors and Tobias glared at her for tricking them like that.

Nightpaw shrugged and meowed, "Now _that's_ what you'd sound like if one of you finds it." She turned to the other cats and gave them a bemused grin, waving her right front paw in front of her eyes to remind them that she was blind. She quickly went back to clutching the saddle after that was done.

Afterwards, the three Clan warriors divided up their jobs and tried to do their best. Ashfeather was searching for the library through his spyglass, and Silverheart was using one forepaw as an eyeshade. Goldwing looked quite exhausted while Tobias has fallen asleep on top of the young golden cat's head. But as for Ashfeather, he knew he and his companions were tired, but they had to find the library.

_No one can mess with us! We're a true force to be reckoned with! _he thought_. Then h_e got an idea. _Maybe I can make up a team name! How about Team Avatar Cat? ...nah. Doesn't sound right._

Silverheart's voice broke the silence. "I think it may be hard to see a giant ornate building from the air. It's like being a buzzard."

Ashfeather nodded in agreement before he went back to observing the desert. But while he kept looking, he suddenly saw something poking out of the ground some distance away. It looked a little bit like a rhino's horn without the rhino fastened to it, but it looked much bigger than that.

"What's that down there?" he called, pointing a forepaw to the object.

Goldwing quickly perked up, causing Tobias to wake up and flap his wide wings at the dusty ground. He and Silverheart looked in the direction Ashfeather was pointing to. Archie's tail lashed about in the air as he roared before descending down to the spire.

On the ground, Ashfeather lifted his muzzle into the air and opened his jaws to find a scent. He drank in the scents of the desert, which were dry and sandy hence the name, and he could only taste...well...rocks and sand. There wasn't any prey, predators, water, or even Wan Shi Tong's library.

Beside him, Silverheart hissed softly, "Shit. We better forget this. The drawing of the building is huge, not this spire. We're not looking for a spire."

But as soon as the words left her mouth, there was a kind of animal appearing over the top of the sand dune ahead of them. It appeared to be a large gray fox (or jackal) as it climbed over the top of the sand dune. In its mouth was a scroll. It paused and turned to look at the five cats, the scroll in its mouth glinting in the sunlight. Finally, the large gray fox continued on its way towards the spire ahead of it.

The fox began galloping towards the base of the spire up ahead of it. Instead of stopping, the fox began running up the spire at a ninety degree angle. The cats' gazes followed it as it did, amazed that a fox could climb a tower like that fox just did. Finally, the fox had reached the top of the tower and looked over its shoulder down at the cats below.

"That must be one of the Wisdom Hunters," Gobi meowed, his amber eyes wide after this. As the fox leapt through the window at the top, the light brown tabby tom cried, "I knew it! We must be near the library!"

Ashfeather, Goldwing, and Silverheart looked down at the picture of the building Gobi brought with him. Ashfeather's pale blue eyes narrowed with curiosity when he saw something on the drawing: on the top of the building was a spire. What was more was that the spire looked much like the spire that stood before them. They had found what they were looking for.

"Wait. This IS the library!" Ashfeather spoke out loud. Pointing his paw to the base to where the library would normally be at, he added, "Just look. It's totally buried underground."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"This library...it's totally buried!"

Ashfeather turned his head to see Gobi padding towards the spire, his yellow eyes wide with disbelief. Then the light brown tabby tom fell to ground, supposedly in defeat.

"My life's ambition...is buried in sand," he moaned sadly. But as that was done, he had a happy look on his face and pulled a tiny shovel out of his bag, mewing, "Well, we better start digging!"

He attempted to unearth the library by using the tiny shovel to dig. However, since it didn't work, Nightpaw prowled forward, stood on her hind legs, and placed a forepaw on one side of the tall spire. The small black she-cat was using her claws to trace some kind of energy within the spire.

Finally, she got back onto her four paws and told Gobi, "No need for any digging, honestly. The library may be deep underground, but it's still unharmed. And it's huge!"

"Well, that fox supposedly ran up the wall and leapt through that window," Ashfeather added. "How about we climb our way up there and give it a look?"

Nightpaw scratched one ear with her hind paw and yawned, "Eh, whatever. You guys go without me. I'm staying out here."

"What do you have against libraries?" Silverheart asked her apprentice.

"I've held books in between my paws before. But those pieces of shit don't work with me, I'll tell you that," Nightpaw told her.

Silverheart just laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head with one paw. "Sorry. I forgot."

Nightpaw nodded. "It's okay. Anyways, let me know if they have something you can listen to."

Ashfeather nodded, took his boomerang out of his bag, tied one end with a rope, and looked up to the window on the spire. Feeling the sun warm his long fur, he reeled his head back with the weapon in his jaws, and tossed it over to the window ledge. There, one end of the boomerang hooked onto the ledge, allowing something like a rope ladder to be formed.

Ready to get into the library, Ashfeather, Silverheart, and Gobi clung onto the rope and started to climb. Meanwhile, Goldwing stayed on the ground with Nightpaw and Archie long enough to give his dragon some comfort.

"Don't worry, buddy. I'm not gonna make you go underground again. You can stay out here with Nightpaw," the Avatar Cat told Archie. To Nightpaw, who looked confused, he told her, "Archie doesn't like going underground, even if you bribe him with food."

The blind she-cat nodded and watched as Goldwing ran towards the other cats to the tall spire. When he left, she and Archie looked away from each other, unable to say anything right now to each other. They then looked back at each other, Archie giving a soft grunt. Both stared at each other a moment before Nightpaw broke the silence:

"What's up?"

**...**

From the inside of the spire, Gobi, Goldwing, Ashfeather, and Silverheart went on going down the rope. Ashfeather's eyes adjusted a bit well to the dark and he could see a floor down at the bottom. Tobias followed them down by gliding downwards to the floor, and all five of them had finally arrived at a large room at the bottom. They had made it to the inside of the Wan Shi Tong library.

Ashfeather looked around himself and was impressed with the manner the library had been built. Goldwing and Silverheart were next to each other as they observed the room together, but they climbed away from each other when Goldwing's tail brushed transversely on Silverheart's head. Gobi, meanwhile, was looking all over the place, studying every nook and cranny of the library.

The room was supported by many columns and archways. The visage of some kind of animal was carved into the archways.

"It's so...so...amazing!" Gobi mewed, his mouth gaped open. "The spirits spared no outflow in constructing this place. Just look at those beautiful buttresses!"

Something about that word just made Goldwing and Ashfeather laugh about it. Ignoring the stern look Silverheart was giving them, Ashfeather wondered what it was about that word that was so funny. The word "buttresses" sounded funny to him just because it sounded funny.

Gobi glanced up at them and mewed with confusion, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Goldwing replied, exchanging a glance with Ashfeather. "We just like architecture, that's all."

"Oh." Gobi stared at him some more before giving him a smile. "Well, so do I."

At long last, the four cats and the red-tailed hawk landed on the ground and looked around them. They landed on an extensive cross-shaped bridge that connected to each side of the room. Past the archways were long rows of bookshelves. The area was dimly lit by green lamps hanging from the walls.

Gobi took a look at a large dragon mosaic set across the top of an arc and gasped. "My word! The exquisite mosaic creation of this tile-rendered...um...nice dragon."

Ashfeather felt confused at this; he thought Archie had somehow gotten into the library. But the shadow approaching them was a little bit bigger than Archie, and it was walking towards them on two legs. Giving a yowl of warning, he and Silverheart hid behind a column while Goldwing pulled Gobi back by the tail behind another column. Then, when the dragon got near, Ashfeather saw that this dragon was definitely not Archie.

This was definitely a dragon, but it looked more feral and dangerous than an Asian Lung. It had black scales on its hide, a spiked tail, and bronze horns protruding from its head. It had yellow eyes with vertical pupils. It appeared to not have any forearms, but it appeared to be walking on a kind of claw attached to its large wings. The dragon breathed fire at the pillars that the cats were hiding behind and let out a piercing scream.

The dragon calmed down and growled, "I know you cats are behind there. Do not hide from a Hungarian Horntail."

Gobi smiled nervously before stepping out from behind the pillar to stand before the dragon. "Greetings! My name is Professor Gobi, teacher of the anthropology class of BoulderClan Academy." He finished this by bowing his head in respect to the dragon.

"I advise you to leave the way you came," the dragon growled, not impressed. Pointing his snout towards the rope from the window, he added, "Unless you would like to join my OTHER heads of anthropology."

He swept one large reptilian wing towards three heads mounted on the wall beside him: one was the head of a moose, the second was the head of a yak, and the third was the head of an elephant. Gobi groaned nervously while his tail swept up some dust from the bridge he was standing on. Ashfeather felt that the dragon shouldn't talk only to Gobi, so he and the rest of his small pack stepped out from behind the pillars.

_We spent too much time in that damn desert to be turned away right now! Now's the time...for reason!_

So Ashfeather came forth and asked the dragon, "Are you the spirit who brought the library to the real world from StarClan?"

The black dragon nodded. "Certainly. I am Wan Shi Tong, the spirit that knows thousands of things. And you four are obviously cats, which are no longer allowed in this library, by the way."

"Sir, what do you have against cats?" Goldwing piped up.

"Hmmm...cats only bother learning things to take advantage of other cats," Wan Shi Tong just growled, shaking his horned head. "It was like that dark brown FireBending cat who came to this place moons ago, looking to destroy an entire Clan." Thrusting his snout in front of Ashfeather and startling him, he hissed, "So tell me: who are you trying to destroy?"

"Oh no. We're not trying to destroy anyone. We're not in that business," the dark gray tabby tom meowed, waving his tail in protest. He could see his reflection easily in those pale yellow eyes.

Wan Shi Tong didn't remove himself as he growled, "Then why are you cats here?"

This made Ashfeather gulp. "Umm...we're seeking some wisdom, for wisdom's sake?"

The Hungarian Horntail stood up erectly before glaring down at Ashfeather. "Well, here is some wisdom for you. When you try lying to a knowledgeable spirit, try putting some effort into it."

Ashfeather looked around for a jiffy before padding behind Goldwing and nudging him forward. Ignoring the Avatar Cat's cry of protest, he explained, "I ain't lying. I'm here with the Avatar Cat, and he's the bridge between the physical world and StarClan. He'll try and vouch for me."

"Um...sure. I'll be more than happy to vouch," Goldwing stammered before looking up at Wan Shi Tong. "Sir, we promise we will not abuse any of this wisdom in the library. I promise in the name of StarClan."

When he bowed, the others did too. Ashfeather felt doubtful, but he got the idea afterward.

"Hmmm..." Wan Shi Tong lifted up a clawed wing and itched at his chin with the single claw. "Very well. I shall let you read through my vast collection...on one condition." When the cats glanced nervously at each other, Wan Shi Tong went on, "You four will have to donate some valuable wisdom to the library to demonstrate your value as scholars."

Ashfeather felt that it was too easy; he knew he could create lots of stuff with any materials he brought with him. Meanwhile, Goldwing took a step back as Gobi stepped forward. The three Clan warriors watched as the light brown tabby tomcat stooped down and presented a thick tome to the dragon.

"Please accept this tome as a contribution to your library," Gobi mewed, looking up into the eyes of Wan Shi Tong.

The library spirit whisked the book away by waving his wing over it, making the book disappear. "This must be the first volume...very nice."

"I have a real WaterBending book," Silverheart spoke up. Ashfeather knew this was the same book she stole from pirate cats when they were apprentices.

"Hmmm..." Wan Shi Tong took the book into his clawed arms and read through the drawings. Then he wiped the book away with his wing before adding, "These artworks are quite tasteful. I'll accept this."

Silverheart bowed her head and backed off while Goldwing tensely stepped onward. Ashfeather supposed the young golden tomcat didn't have anything worth of donating to the library. The golden tom began lashing his tail around, apparently thinking of something to donate to Wan Shi Tong. This could take a little while for him to stop thinking.

Then, to their confusion, Goldwing reached into his bag and presented a scroll, revealing it to be a FireClan wanted poster of the Avatar Cat. Ashfeather recognized it; he had seen it when he was an apprentice when they went out to a FireClan festival. But he thought not even a wanted poster could even be donated to the library.

However, Wan Shi Tong was inspecting it closely before grabbing it with one claw. "I suppose this could count as wisdom," he decided before waving his wing over the poster and making it vanish.

As soon as the Hungarian Horntail took Goldwing's offering, Ashfeather reached into his bag and pulled out some string. He had no idea how he would offer a piece of string to Wan Shi Tong's library, but he had an idea. It could get rejected, but it could be another way of getting into the library.

"Great wisdom spirit...watch this!" The wisdom spirit watched calmly as Ashfeather held the piece a string between his fore claws. The other cats, standing behind him, looked quite puzzled indeed. Then he quickly tied the string into a loop shaped knot that said "Pooh!" and held it out, mewing, "Ta da!"

Wan Shi Tong just looked down at him while the dark gray tabby tom held out his offering. So Ashfeather insisted, "It's called the Loop Knot! It can be also called the Pooh Knot! That counts as wisdom, right?"

More silence. Then Wan Shi Tong took it anyways, but he commented, "You're not one of the brightest lambs in the barn, are you? Anyways, enjoy the library."

Ashfeather frowned at the barbed insult Wan Shi Tong threw at him. He wasn't the brightest cat, but he was definitely a smart cat. He glared at Wan Shi Tong with contempt as the dragon turned and jumped off the bridge, extending his wings. The Hungarian Horntail dragon soared down to the library's lowers levels while the other cats watched him fly down before turning to leave.

"Hey, I'm bright...bright enough to fool you," the WaterClan warrior growled after him.

**...**

Nightpaw and Archie were stretched out onto their sides under the shadow of the spire, feeling really bored. There hadn't been any sight of prey, but there was a scorpion or two scuttling here and there, looking for shade. Archie would warn off the scorpions, which meant they had to look for shade somewhere else.

After a little while, Nightpaw asked Archie, "So...you like flyin'?"

Archie responded by grunting and scratching his ear.

"Naturally, I'm more comfortable on the ground, where I can see. Well, I can't _see _the way you do. I feel the vibration in the ground with my paws," Nightpaw explained. Then, lifting up one paw and letting a pawful of sand fall, she went on, "But this sand is so shifty. It makes anything look too fuzzy."

Archie sat up and yawned loudly, making Nightpaw meow, "Not that there's anything _wrong_ with fuzzy."

**...**

Soon enough, the five cats were in a large hall of bookshelves that stretched up to the tall ceiling. Between the shelves was a large statue of a bird that resembled a phoenix. The three Clan cats, Gobi, and a fox were standing to the left next to a bookshelf. The three Clan warriors had soon realized that the FireBending cat Wan Shi Tong was talking about was Thornflare, the FireClan deputy before Frostfire. He was also the one who played a role in the death of Moonfeather.

Goldwing was reading a book with Tobias and his staff leaned against the shelf while the fox put a small book on the shelf. Silverheart, Ashfeather, and Gobi were just busy doing StarClan knew what. Meanwhile, Goldwing flipped the page and found a picture that amazed him.

It was a picture of a blue whale, the world's biggest animal, facing a tabby cat. And on top of the blue whale was an entire tropical rainforest with a small lake on the top. Plus, there was only one cat facing the tabby while on the whale: a ginger cat whose fur was flashing like fire in the sun's light. Finally, there were two other blue whales behind it.

"Look at this!" Goldwing called to his friends. "Here's a picture of some weird whales!"

Ashfeather pushed a book back into the shelf and padded to his friend. Silverheart was watching them while she was reading a book about past Avatar Cats. Gobi was a bit busy reading through lots of books to notice this extra commotion.

But when Ashfeather saw the picture of the whales, he commented, "Huh. I've seen weirder shit than that."

"Goldwing," Silverheart's voice made the golden cat look up. "Did you know you had really long fangs like a viper in a past life?"

Goldwing flicked his ears in her direction. "Really? I knew I was special in some sort of way."

Shuffling noises told the three cats that Gobi was seizing more than a few more books from the shelves, stacking them onto a green table beside him. Ashfeather padded past him and spotted a scroll sticking out from one of the shelves. He pulled it out, unrolled it, and examined the scroll before slipping it into his bag. He hoped Wan Shi Tong didn't mind that, as long as they could return it somehow.

Then Ashfeather saw something that sparked his interest a lot. It was a short pedestal displaying a piece of paper covered in glass. Ashfeather ran over to it, leaped onto the pedestal, and read the paper that was covered with it. Its edges had been burned and there was something written on it_._ It read:

"_The 9th day of the 7th moon of the Cultivate Rule Dragon Year was the darkest hour in the history of FireClan."_

"'The darkest hour in the history of FireClan,'" he repeated softly. "It's got a date at the top, but it doesn't say anything else."

So Ashfeather quickly unsheathed his claws and slid them under the glass, gradually lifting it up with ease until his paw slipped under. Using his other paw, he slipped that paw under the glass and grabbed it quickly before his claws ached from the pressure. He was satisfied with the piece of information he got, so he padded back to the other cats, who were walking out from behind a bookshelf.

When Silverheart spotted him, she mewed, "Ashfeather? Your paw's bleeding."

Ashfeather looked down at his paw and saw a spot of blood on it. He hadn't really noticed while he was trying to get the piece of paper. So he put down the paper, licked the blood off his paw, and picked the paper back up before heading off in the other direction.

"Wait! Where the hell are you going?" Goldwing asked him, running after him.

"I have to know what happened on FireClan's darkest hour. It could be vital," Ashfeather called back over his shoulder. "The information of FireClan should be here somewhere."

So the four cats and Tobias walked on until they reached an elaborate doorway at the end of the hallway. Above the door was a large red drape with the symbol of fire on it. The three Clan cats looked around as they walked through the entrance while Tobias landed on Silverheart's shoulder and rested. But when they had arrived into the room, Ashfeather's pale blue eyes widened with disbelief at what he saw.

The room was filled with the burned debris of books and bookshelves; there wasn't anything in the room that wasn't burned. Ashfeather's ears flattened with defeat as he looked around while Gobi took a few cautious pawsteps forward. Tobias spread his wings and lifted himself off of Silverheart's head as he scanned the area from the air.

"FireClan was here," Goldwing stated. His mouth was open as he scented the scents of the faint smell.

"They destroyed everything to do with FireClan," Silverheart added. "Maybe it's to make sure their enemies don't take advantage of them."

Ashfeather's legs shook as he fell to the ground. He swiped at the ashes with his front paw as he hissed, "StarClan damn it! This is so unfair! Just when I get one step up ahead of FireClan, or so I think, they beat us here!" He straightened himself off the ground and growled, "I _have_ to know what happened to FireClan on their darkest hour."

Suddenly, there was a whimpering sound from behind him, so the dark gray tabby turned to see. There was another fox behind him, and it was standing on its hind legs for some strange reason. However, its brown eyes were glittering with powerful wisdom.

"Um...hey, fox," Ashfeather meowed awkwardly.

The fox got down to its paws and whimpered some more, so Gobi translated for it, "I suppose it's saying 'Follow me!'"

Ashfeather looked at the light brown tabby tom before turning back to the fox. "Sure. I guess I can follow you. I _guess_..."

The three Clan warriors and Gobi nodded before following the fox. The fox ran up to a wall with a sun symbol before turning and darting away from them. The rest of the group padded forward, staring at the big symbol. Suddenly, they saw the fox crawling through a hole located in the wall. The center of the symbol slowly rolled to the side, creating an opening. Soon enough, the center rolled to the side, revealing the fox sitting behind it. It made a small whimper when it saw them, letting the cats enter the room.

The room was dome shaped and on the walls were painted mountains, clouds, and the sky. The whole area was dark, illuminated only by light from outside the door. Amazed, the four cats observed all this as they padded towards a large stone stand standing there. The fox pushed a lever next to the pedestal.

Now the false sky was littered with sparkling stars, all revolving. The three warriors and Tobias gasped with awe as they all looked up with wonder, the light of the stars passing over them. They even noticed a moon symbol attached to a mechanical device as it moved across the sky.

"A true marvel, that's what this room is!" Gobi gasped, his amber eyes darting from one side to the other. "It's a mechanical wonder! It's a planetarium showing the heavens moving."

"It IS beautiful," Ashfeather admitted. "But how will this help us?"

In front of the cats, the pedestal had a slightly domed top, and circling it were different symbols. There was a yin-yang symbol in the center and the outmost symbols portrayed twelve different animals. Gobi padded forward and began sniffing around the pedestal with interest.

Silverheart tilted her head to one side as she observed the pedestal. "I think those dials represent dates and times. Hey, Ashfeather. Try entering that date from the scroll you got earlier," she told him, flicking her tail at the dials.

"Not so loud!" her littermate rebuked her. He pointed his tail to the fox and hissed, "Not in front of the fox! He's working with the dragon!" This made the fox whimper and lower its head in a dejected way while its ears were laid back.

Following his sister's advice anyhow, Ashfeather slightly raised the burned parchment out from his bag, scanned it, and adjusted the dials. He pushed the lever forward and the machine began to operate. Light flashing from above them told the cats that the sun was moving about in the false sky.

Goldwing gaped in awe before turning to Ashfeather with a smile on his face. "I gotta paw it to you, Ashfeather. I think you picked the best vacation spot so far!"

But as the sky changed back to day, the room suddenly became shadowy. The moon symbol was now in the sky.

"What the hell happened to the sun?" Silverheart mewed with disbelief.

"Aww, you broke it!" Goldwing whined.

But as Ashfeather heard this, he suddenly found himself in a forest with lots and lots of fighting cats. But as those cats continued to fight, the sky became darker, for a dark circle had arrived in the sky and covered the sun. Many cats had started shrieking something about StarClan killing the sun before fleeing back through the woods. This was probably the time in the old four Clans when the Great Battle had taken place, he thought as he came back to the present.

_This sight must be like what happened in the past!_

So Ashfeather rasped, "I didn't break it. The sun is behind the moon! It's a solar eclipse! This is _literally_ the darkest hour in all of FireClan's history. Now I get it!" He grabbed Goldwing by the shoulders and turned him around. "Something awful must've happened on that day. I don't know what happened, but I do know why. FireBenders lose their Bending during a solar eclipse!"

Gobi nodded along with what Ashfeather said while writing in a notebook. Silverheart had a mix of annoyance and insight on her face as her brother shook the Avatar Cat with delight. But he pushed Goldwing a little too far and let go of him, causing the young cat some discomfort.

"Sorry. I just got a little manic," Ashfeather apologized, grabbing him by the scruff and pulling him back up.

Goldwing got to his paws and replied, "It's okay. Everyone gets a little manic sometimes."

Beside him, Silverheart nodded. "But Ashfeather's right. It _does_ make sense." She padded around the pedestal and studied it closely before saying, "I mean, you remember that lunar eclipse back at the Northern WaterClan? When the WaterBenders lost their powers for the moment? Well, it's the same thing with a solar eclipse except it'll take away the FireBenders' powers. This is huge!"

Ashfeather saw that his silver-pelted sister was right. He recalled when the sun, which covered the moon, made the sky and everything around them red. That had lasted for only around a few minutes, but the WaterBenders had their powers weakened for the time being.

More whimpering sounds were heard after this. Ashfeather turned around to see the fox looking at him and raising both its front paws as a dog would when it begged for a treat. The dark gray tabby tom smiled at it and decided to help it; this fox had surely helped them out with something this time.

So he reached into his bag, pulled out some penguin jerky, and tossed it to the fox. "Here you go, fox. You earned it. I guess not all foxes are bad, after all."

The fox caught the treat in its mouth and sprinted off. It was probably going away to find a place to eat its treat in peace.

"Looks like we've got a prophecy on our shoulders now," Ashfeather meowed proudly, puffing out his chest. "We have to get this to the EarthClan leader at BoulderClan. We'll wait for the next eclipse, and then we'll invade FireClan when they're helpless and the War will be over. Darkstar is goin' down!" he cheered, leaping into the air with triumph.

_We'll win this War!_

"Cats are so predictable. And they also make such terrible liars."

Ashfeather's grin slowly turned into a frown as he saw a dark shadow loom over him. He gulped when he saw Wan Shi Tong standing over the cats, glaring at them with angry yellow eyes and lashing his horned tail. The guardian of the library looked very angry indeed.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"You cats have betrayed my trust, and you have broken your vows to never abuse my wisdom!" Wan Shi Tong roared as he stood in the entrance. "Right from the start, you were just plotting on ill-using this wisdom for your evil purposes!"

Goldwing traded looks with his friends, all three unable to say anything to defend themselves. However, it was Ashfeather who had stepped forward to challenge the dragon wisdom spirit.

"Look, you don't understand," the dark gray warrior pleaded with Wan Shi Tong. "If you wanna see someone evil, it's FireClan! You should see what they did to your library! Those cats are treacherous and vicious, and that's why we need this information."

Sadly, Wan Shi Tong wasn't listening. "You honestly believe YOU are the first cat to believe their war is justified? Before you came, many others have come here, looking for weapons or flaws or battle strategies. And you four have come for the same thing, right?"

Goldwing stepped forward and stated his defense. "We had no choice! We're desperate to put an end to this damn war! We're trying to protect those we love!" he added, looking at Silverheart as he said this.

Ashfeather could see Silverheart's dark blue eyes widen at this, but she didn't say anything about that. He supposed his sister was remembering the death of their mother, and that was maybe why she remained silent.

"And now, I too shall protect the thing _I_ love the most!" Wan Shi Tong roared.

At this, he flapped his wings hard and rose into the air, flapping his wings harder and faster to create great gusts of air. The four cats unsheathed their claws and sunk them into the ground as they tried to not get blown away by the powerful air blasts. Wan Shi Tong's face was contorted with cold fury as he flapped his wings harder and faster.

"What're you doing?" Goldwing howled, shock filling his voice.

The Hungarian Horntail glared down at him and bellowed, "I am taking my wisdom back to StarClan! No one should abuse the wisdom here ever again!"

Groaning and crumbling sounds made Ashfeather look up to the ceiling with surprise. Sand was falling down to the ground and the earth was rumbling all around them since they were obviously underground. More sand seeped through the walls and there was a menacing rumbling sound from all around them.

Silverheart looked around and exclaimed, "He's gonna sink the library! We have to get out of here! Now!"

But Wan Shi Tong landed onto the ground with a thud, planting one massively clawed foot in the way the cats were trying to escape. Then, to their horror, his neck began growing longer and his tail began growing more spikes at the end. His sharp teeth got longer and jet black feathers with red eye spots appeared at the top of his head. Then his legs disappeared and he was now floating in midair with his wings keeping him afloat.

Now, instead of a Hungarian Horntail, there was a huge black-feathered Ampithere dragon with glowing red eyes, long wings, and long sharp teeth. He was flapping his wings to keep himself in the air, although he had landed to plant one end of his wings into the ground. It was quite like when he had been a Hungarian Horntail.

"I'm afraid I cannot let you leave," Wan Shi Tong growled. "You already know too much."

Then he raised his head into the air, screeched, and lunged at them.

The four cats and Tobias jumped out of the way just as Wan Shi Tong hit the floor, causing it to crack. Wan Shi Tong chased after them as they fled from the planetarium, yowling with fright. They looked behind them to see the Ampithere dragon following them and bellowing with rage, sending out black flames from his jaws. Ashfeather led the pack faster and farther away from the wrath of Wan Shi Tong while taking a look behind him.

Despite Wan Shi Tong going in a violent rampage, Ashfeather didn't want to leave yet. He still wanted to find out when the next eclipse would come so they could try and defeat FireClan. That could be very vital in the hopes of ending the fourteen-year-old war.

But they had to get away first.

**...**

After possibly hours of staying out in the shade of the spire, Nightpaw was getting really bored. She had managed to chow down on a few desert locusts to keep starvation away, but she was now getting a bit thirsty. Archie just chewed on some of the fur on his foreleg to keep himself busy.

Suddenly, Archie raised his head and began making a roaring noise. Nightpaw glared up at him, cranky about being disturbed from a little catnap and failing to notice the earth rumbling.

She growled, "I told you before and I'm telling you again, Archie. I DON'T wanna nuzzle!"

But Archie stood up and walked away from her, making her grunt with surprise as she fell face-first into the sand. When she stood up to spit out some sand and glare after Archie, she felt the earth trembling underneath her paws. And then...she "saw" what was happening.

"The library's sinking?" she rasped. "The library's sinking!"

The small black cat rushed over to the spire, stood on her hind paws, and drove her forepaws into its surface. Cracks appeared from where her paws struck the surface, and Nightpaw grunted hard as she attempted to hold the library up, her back paws sinking into the sand. After a lot of effort, the spire finally slowed down and stopped sinking for a bit.

**...**

Goldwing and the three other cats had run into one of the long hallways to avoid Wan Shi Tong. Large wide torrents of sand were now pouring from the ceiling and forming several small pools of sand on the floor. All of a sudden, as they ran under an arch and towards the bridge, Wan Shi Tong burst through the arch, ruining it, and continued to chase them.

But when the four cats and Tobias ran for another hallway, Wan Shi Tong followed them, flying swiftly over the floor and causing bits of rubble to go flying in his wake. Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather made it to other side of the bridge and stopped for a short break. However, they noticed that one particular cat wasn't with them, and they turned around to see who hadn't come with them.

Gobi had stopped on the bridge and turned around, yelping and gasping for breath. He was still holding a large stack of books in his bag, but he was now crouching low before the advancing rampaging dragon. Meanwhile, Goldwing was silently whispering, _Gobi, move!_

"Oh, great wisdom spirit, I beg of you! Do not abolish your vast collection of precious tomes!" he was whimpering, sounding scared and exasperated.

But the black Ampithere dragon wasn't listening as he flew faster towards the light brown tabby tom. Goldwing looked back and turned around as he raced across the bridge. He leaped upwards and twisted his body around in the air, bending a vacuum between his front paws. This ended up with Gobi being pulled back by the vacuum just before Wan Shi Tong attacked the spot where he stood.

When Gobi was pulled backwards, he let out a scream of surprise as the bag filled with books fell off of his back. And when he was pulled to them, Silverheart and Ashfeather took both of his ears in their jaws and pulled him towards them.

"Excuse us!" they meowed at the same time as he was pulled to safety.

Wan Shi Tong let out another screeching roar as he flew towards the bridge at the cats. Jumping to his friends' defense, Goldwing leapt forth, twisted his body around in the air again, and (with his jaws full of staff) swung his staff in an upward arc as he landed, Bending a strong gust of air. The Avatar Cat hoped it was enough to make the Ampithere dragon back off and leave them.

Goldwing felt relieved as the gust collided with Wan Shi Tong, causing him to be knocked over the side of the bridge. The wisdom spirit fell down, roaring, to the lower levels of the library. For now, Wan Shi Tong was out of the way, but he could come back at any moment.

"Guys, we have to get back. Now," he rasped, leaping ahead and turning around a corner ahead of the others.

When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that Silverheart, Gobi, and Tobias were following him. But suddenly, Ashfeather had stopped following them and looked over his shoulder to the bridge, his face looking hesitant. Goldwing had no idea what was wrong with his WaterClan friend.

"Let's go already!"

Silverheart was the one who had yowled to her brother. Goldwing really wanted to know what was keeping Ashfeather so long to come along with them.

"But if we go already, we won't know when the next eclipse will come!" Ashfeather called back.

Silverheart rolled her eyes. "Ashfeather, don't be a fluff-brained dumbass! We'll find out later!"

The dark gray tabby shook his head. "No we won't!" He flicked his tail to the bridge and went on, "We'll never get this info if we leave this place so soon. Goldwing, come with me. I'll need some backup."

Goldwing nodded and raced over to his friend's side. He would help his friends no matter what would happen.

"Silverheart, take Gobi and Tobias and get out of here. Quick!" Ashfeather told his sister.

Silverheart looked as if she would protest, but she was cut off by a large crash, causing her and Gobi to flinch. Through the dust that followed, Goldwing thought he could see a large reptilian figure approaching in the middle. Wan Shi Tong had reappeared for some more revenge.

Ashfeather took one look at the figure and yowled over to Silverheart, "Just go! We'll be okay!"

The two other cats nodded and ran off with Tobias flying after them, Silverheart calling over her shoulder, "Hurry, you two! And be careful!"

Both toms nodded before leaping away.

**...**

Silverheart looked over her shoulder in time to see the retreating figures of the two other toms. The silver warrior hoped they could make it out safely, but she also wished they would hurry up. But there was no time for thinking of that, she was telling herself as she and Gobi ran into a large hallway.

But to her dismay, Gobi skirted out of the hall and went in between two shelves. Silverheart ran over to see what he was doing, and she saw that he had fallen down to the ground, covering his eyes with his paws. Quickly, Silverheart hid behind a pile of books and peered out to see Wan Shi Tong rushing past their hiding spot without noticing Gobi.

When the coast was clear, Silverheart ran to the entrance of the hiding spot and turned around to see if Gobi was okay. The light brown tabby tom was opening his amber eyes to make sure that the coast was clear. He looked to his right and pulled a large book from the bookshelf, smiling as he did so. Silverheart just rolled her eyes and raced away with Tobias clinging to her shoulder with his talons.

"He'll be fine," she muttered to herself as she ran.

While they ran, Tobias let out a caw of terror, which made Silverheart turn her head to see what was after them. It was Wan Shi Tong; the black dragon was roaring as he flew faster and harder towards the defenseless duo.

**...**

Nightpaw could feel sand blustering over her pelt as she struggled hard to keep the library from sinking. She could smell the harsh reek of blood seeping up from her claws, but she ignored the pain. Archie, meanwhile, was sitting beside her, doing whatever StarClan knew what a normal dragon would do. But she wasn't worried on that, for she was more concerned about helping her friends.

Out of the blue, Archie began growling.

"What now?" Nightpaw sighed.

But then she heard it: the sound of three sand gliders driving through the desert. Even though she couldn't sense her way well in sand, Nightpaw could feel a shockwave of sand come for them. But to her confusion and horror, the shockwave hit Archie and was encircling him, making him roar.

"Who's there?" Nightpaw called out. But even though they could be cats, no one answered her.

And she realized that, too late, a cat had leaped from the sand glider and created a tornado of sand as he landed. And that tornado was coming right for them.

**...**

All around Goldwing and Ashfeather as they ran across another bridge, the walls were crumbling and more sand was pouring in. Trying hard to ignore a loose sharp pebble scraping his shoulder, Ashfeather thought about how important it was to try and get the eclipse date. The other Clans would get to try and defeat FireClan with this kind of info and the cat in charge of BoulderClan, which was now the only safe place in EarthClan, would like to hear it.

_It's not just for my friends and me. It's for ALL the Clans!_

The two toms made it back to the planetarium, and this time, it wasn't closed. When the cats had fled from here, they had left the entrance opened because Wan Shi Tong had come after them. So when they made it to the entrance, Goldwing and Ashfeather went on inside.

"Ashfeather, why the hell do you wanna do this?" Goldwing panted as they halted inside.

"Because I bet this calendar can project when the next one will be if it tells us about eclipses in the past," Ashfeather told him, removing his bag from his shoulder and turning the dial.

Goldwing, however, looked doubtful. "But I don't see how you'll check every single date."

Ashfeather turned the dial again. "I don't have to. We just check every date before the Shadow Meteor arrives, because after that...well, don't think about that."

The dark gray tabby looked down at the dial as the date on it changed. Rapid changes were made in succession as the two toms tried different dates on the machine. Goldwing muttered something about the eclipse coming soon as the sun symbol moved about. The moon symbol came in from the left and stopped over the sun symbol, creating the desired eclipse.

"It's the eclipse! It's during this greenleaf!" Ashfeather cried happily as the planetarium dimmed. He wrote the exact date down and put it in his bag as he faced Goldwing. "I got it. Now let's get to BoulderClan!"

Goldwing smiled at his friend and nodded while the two cats left the planetarium.

_BoulderClan, here we come!_

**...**

SandClan cats besieged Archie like a zebra cornered by hyenas while the Asian Lung dragon roared with fury. Nightpaw couldn't try and save Archie, not because she detested him, but it was because she also had to save her feline friends. Without her amazing strength and EarthBending power, they would all die.

Using ropes with bags of sand tied to the ends for added weight, the SandBending cats steadily pinned Archie down. Archie resisted by shaking his weight to get the ropes off, but he began to slowly weaken. Nightpaw couldn't free herself to free Archie, but she could still move her head, tail, and back paws around.

"Don't you make me put this down, shitheads!" she snarled, but they didn't listen.

Furiously, the black she-cat let go of the spire and turned around to attack, extending her right front paw and Bending sand at the SandBenders. The spire began sinking again but quicker than before. The sand wave passed by, missing by a few fox-lengths. Nightpaw turned back around and thrust her forepaws back into the spire. Behind her, Archie was still struggling hard with the SandBenders.

Behind her, Nightpaw could hear Archie moaning in a frightened way as he was pulled away by the SandClan cats. He was being pulled roughly over the sand and away from the spire of the library.

"No...stop sinking..." Nightpaw wheezed, but the EarthClan apprentice was tiring out.

Finally, she let go of the spire once again to send waves of sand towards where the SandClan cats were. But they were gone.

Going gone.

_No!_

She stood on her hind legs again, drove her front paws back into the spire, and felt rueful tears leak down her face. She had failed the Warrior Code, protecting those who needed her. Of course Nightpaw was an independent cat and could take care of herself, but she felt horrible for leaving Archie in that mess. And she didn't like Archie at first because of his sloppy attitude, but she had begun to respect the dragon.

"I'm sorry, Archie," she rasped, her voice croaking in the process. "I'm so sorry..."

**...**

Panting hard for breath, Silverheart turned to see Wan Shi Tong charging at her, his jaws wide to show razor sharp teeth. She had no idea how to outrun this spirit beast; he was too huge and too vicious to evade forever. Beside her, Tobias kept looking over his shoulder and cawing with fear every time Wan Shi Tong got near them.

Silverheart dashed toward a bookshelf before turning right and running down the main hallway. Wan Shi Tong quickly followed after her and Tobias, roaring out his fury.

Unknown to the librarian, Silverheart hid behind a bookshelf, panted, and clutched the floor with her claws. Tobias looked around the bookshelf, and the silver she-cat followed suit. They could see Wan Shi Tong sticking his neck between bookshelves before turning to see them. The duo hid behind the shelf, but Silverheart saw too late that her tail was sticking out like a pale stick.

"Ah. A new specimen to add to my collection," Wan Shi Tong hissed.

Rearing back his head, the Ampithere dragon lunged after Silverheart and Tobias, who screeched with fright. Silverheart got up and ran between bookshelves while Tobias lifted himself into the air and followed her. Wan Shi Tong snapped at the spot where Silverheart was and chased after them.

Meanwhile, up ahead, Silverheart ran down the hallway and turned around another corner. When she made it to where the rope was at, she skidded along the ground and ran onto the bridge. Wan Shi Tong flew past the collection of animal heads before turning and walking on to the bridge with the spikes on his wings.

Not wanting to run anymore, Silverheart stopped running and turned to face the wisdom spirit. With the swift reflexes of a WaterBending WaterClan cat, she quickly got into a WaterBending stance, her front paw poised over her water flask. The rope was only a few fox-lengths behind her as Wan Shi Tong's shadow passed over her, closing in.

The black dragon glared at her through red eyes as he snarled, "Ha! Do you think WaterBending can help you? I've studied Northern Water Style, Southern Water Style, and even Foggy Swamp Style."

At this, he raised his head, opened his jaws, and roared, ready for the attack. Silverheart closed her eyes, waiting for the blow to be dealt with.

Instead, suddenly, she saw light through her eyelids and opened her eyes. Light had spilled into the library as Goldwing flew down at Wan Shi Tong on his glider, Ashfeather hanging on for some support. Silverheart gasped in wonder and fear as her brother jumped off of Goldwing and towards the wisdom spirit with a book in his jaws.

_How did they get here so quickly? _she thought with relief. _Did they find what they wanted?_

With a mighty yowl of power, Ashfeather leaped onto the dragon's head, slamming the book down it against Wan Shi Tong's skull. The dark gray tabby tomcat off of the Ampithere dragon's head and away from him. Quickly, Silverheart jumped out of the way as Wan Shi Tong wavered in a tipsy way and fell forward with a thud to the ground. Tobias flew towards Goldwing, cawing happily as he soared beside his master.

Silverheart rejoined her brother, smiling and feeling proud of him. Ashfeather had a very brilliant mind and, despite being silly and at times bossy, he was a very good cat to be with. Meanwhile, Ashfeather was standing over Wan Shi Ton triumphantly, his tail swishing back and forth.

"That's called Ashfeather style! Learn it!" he bragged.

But he had no more time to gloat, for more streams of sand poured in from above. The dark gray warrior climbed on top of Wan Shi Tong and began climbing the rope. Silverheart followed after her brother while Goldwing glided past them. Tobias was flapping his wings harder and gaining altitude the harder he flapped before landing on Silverheart's shoulder.

But there was someone missing.

"We forgot someone!" Ashfeather called, making his companions halt. Looking down at Gobi, who was reading books at a bookshelf, he yowled, "Professor! We have to go! Come on!"

But Gobi dropped the book he was reading as he stood up and glanced defiantly up at them. "I can't leave! I just can't! I've spent too many moons in trying to find this place! There has never been a vast collection of wisdom on Earth like this," he added, closing his eyes and lowering his head. He opened them again and looked up at them, finishing, "I could spend an eternity here!"

Ashfeather glanced down at him in dismay. _Why the hell is he saying this! He HAS to come with us!_

"Just go!" Silverheart growled, shoving Ashfeather up some more.

At this, the rope began swaying back and forth. Tobias let go of his perch and flew around them, cawing. They looked down and saw Wan Shi Tong; the black dragon was screeching loudly and swinging the rope back and forth with his teeth. He was trying to throw the two WaterClan cats off it.

Goldwing quickly came gliding down and gasped when he saw his friends lose their grip and fall down. The golden AirClan warrior swooped down, and Silverheart used her teeth to hang on to the tail of the glider. To wrap this up, Ashfeather wrapped his forelegs around his sister's waist so that all three of them were ready. They flew past the angry Wan Shi Tong, Tobias following after.

Wan Shi Tong was roaring from behind, whipping the rope around. Then the Ampithere dragon flapped his wings and flew after them, throwing blast after blast of fire at them. Goldwing panted from fatigue as he carried his friends up the inside of the spire while the wisdom spirit continued chasing them. The spirit began to gain on the three Clan warriors and the hawk; he tried to grab Ashfeather with his jaws, but he missed when Ashfeather pulled his tail away.

When they finally made it outside through the window, they could see Nightpaw still holding the spire. Goldwing dove down and landed gracefully on the ground by Bending the air, making him land on all four paws. However, Silverheart and Ashfeather landed on the sand head first. The rope and boomerang landed next to Ashfeather, who stood up weakly while Goldwing looked from left and right.

Ashfeather could see that Nightpaw's claws were still dug into the spire, and several cracks had already formed. Nightpaw gave a grunt and pulled her bloody claws out. The spire immediately sank quickly into the ground, making the black she-cat fell backward. The sinking caused a dust cloud to form and envelop her, but she shielded herself from the blow.

Where the spire once stood was now a large perfectly circular crater. Goldwing crouched to the ground, sniffing for something, while Silverheart watched him with concern. Tobias kept looking back to the crater as if expecting the spire to suddenly sprout back and Wan Shi Tong would attack them.

"Thank StarClan! We got the info we need!" Ashfeather crowed proudly. He happily rubbed his muzzle against Silverheart's shoulder while she did the same to him in return. "There's a solar eclipse coming in a few more moons near the end of greenleaf! FireClan will be beaten for sure!"

"Nightpaw? Where's Archie?"

Ashfeather looked over to where Nightpaw was crouching low to the ground. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Archie since they got out from the spire. But what happened next confirmed his worst fear.

Nightpaw looked up at the golden tom through tear-filled eyes before falling to the ground. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed, "I'm sorry, Goldwing! I tried my best, but there were too many of them! Now he's..." She covered her eyes and wailed, "Archie's been stolen by SandClan cats!"

Seeing Goldwing look shocked with tears forming in his dark eyes, Ashfeather felt concerned. He knew what it was like to be parted from someone he loved: first his mother, then his father, and then Moonfeather. But this was worse; Archie had been Goldwing's faithful pet before they had been frozen together.

_Without Archie, what do we do now?_

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Besides getting the books recently, today's my grandpa's birthday. He'll be turning 72 today.**

**Aang: (Amazed) Wow. I wish my future self could live up to that. But what's done is done. Anyways, that's great, Avatar Cat!**

**Katara: I hope he has a good day today!**

**AvatarCat12: I hope so too. But anyways, I'm gonna go ahead with the review thing. (To the readers) Those who read and review this chapter will get virtual cookie cakes with a plush doll of either Korra, Mako, or Bolin. Flames aren't allowed on here EVER, but advice and constructive criticism are allowed.**

**Aang: And here's the preview for Desert Of Death.**

**Preview: Goldwing is now too angry and upset to lead the pack, so Silverheart takes over. With buzzards, drugged cacti, and the sweltering heat, will they get out of the desert in time? Meanwhile, Bearclaw is introduced to a secret organization his uncle has been in.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	12. Desert Of Death

**AvatarCat12: (Looks around) I see Aang isn't here. Where's he at?**

**Katara: He couldn't stand of what happened on this episode. So he decided to skip this chapter and the next one.**

**AvatarCat12: Oh...that's a shame. But he'll be back very much. **

**Katara: Yeah. So can I say the disclaimer? (AvatarCat12 nods) Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter own Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats. AvatarCat12 doesn't.**

**Summary: Goldwing is now too angry and upset to lead the pack, so Silverheart takes over. With buzzards, drugged cacti, and the sweltering heat, will they get out of the desert in time? Meanwhile, Bearclaw is introduced to a secret organization his uncle has been in.**

**Uploading Date: May 8, 2012**

**Both: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**Desert Of Death**_

An endless expanse of sand dunes and open sky opened up before the four cats while the wind blew loudly around them. There was no sign of shade or water anywhere, and the only animals seen so far were gila monsters crawling underneath the sand for shelter from the wind. Desert antelope were huddling together while they tried sniffing for any plant life around them.

Silverheart, meanwhile, watched with anxiety as Goldwing paced about with an angry look on his face; she had never seen him so angry before. Ashfeather was watching the scenery before him, and Tobias was looking from left to right as if looking for a meal. Nightpaw, however, had her head hung low, looking forlorn and refusing to speak to anyone.

_Archie's gone, _she reminded herself. _What'll we do now?_

But when Goldwing stopped pacing, he suddenly rounded on Nightpaw, growling furiously, "How the hell could you let them get away with Archie? Why didn't you do anything to get him back?"

Nightpaw looked up at him, a few tears rolling down her cheeks to the dry sand. "I couldn't do anything! The library was sinking, and you guys were still inside there, so-" At this, she was sweeping her tail to and fro in frustration.

"Well, you could've come in to fetch us out here!" Goldwing snapped. "I could've saved him!"

"But I couldn't feel any other vibrations out here!" Nightpaw wailed back. "Those SandClan cats snuck up on me, and I couldn't find enough time to-"

Goldwing shoved his face nastily into hers (Silverheart flinched at this) and snarled angrily, "No, you just didn't care! Admit it! You don't like Archie! You just wanted him gone!"

Feeling that enough was enough, Silverheart attempted to try a bit of peacemaking by stepping in between the two quarreling cats. She laid her tail on his shoulder to try and calm him down, but the golden Avatar Cat angrily shrugged her tail away.

"Goldwing, stop it right now," Silverheart scolded him in a motherly way. "Nightpaw did her best. She saved our lives today like a Clanmate would really do."

"Yeah, but who'll save us now?" Ashfeather spoke up, waving his tail around. "We'll never get out of here at this rate."

Silverheart groaned at this and shook her head. The silver-furred warrior knew they should all be working together and thinking for each other. But it seemed to Ashfeather that Archie would just have to wait until later. It was just like forgetting to bring a big piece of prey over to the Clan and giving them a shrew instead.

_Ashfeather, just shut up. _Please.

It seemed to her that Ashfeather said the wrong thing, for Goldwing turned his back on them and spat, "Well, that proves you don't care! That's all you care about: yourselves! You don't give a damn whether Archie's all right or not!"

At this, he stalked away from them, brooding angrily.

"Goldwing, don't say that," Silverheart tried to tell him. "We _are_ worried for him. But we can't afford this squabbling right now."

"Say what you want. I'm finding Archie...whether you want to come or not," the AirClan cat just growled.

Without warning, he whipped his glider forth, made the wings sprout out, attached it to his back, and took off. But he had taken off so quickly that he growled viciously at the sand before he flew away from his pack.

Silverheart rushed towards the spot where he was, calling, "Goldwing, wait!"

But it was too late. Goldwing was gone.

Silverheart was shocked and taken aback at how Goldwing just behaved. Of course he would get angry sometimes and get over it in a few seconds or minutes. But what had happened to Archie seemed to bring out the worst of his anger. It even seemed that he was no longer the cat she came to like and care for, but there was nothing she could do.

Giving a sigh of defeat, she turned to see the other twos looking at her. They looked as if a leader had just died and she had become the next leader. Deep inside her mind, she knew she would not have much of a chance of being a leader, but she could still keep the pack together.

"We better start moving right away," she explained to them. "As of right now, we're the only cats that know about the eclipse. We need to get this info to BoulderClan. And fast."

Then she began prowling away from the other cats to start making their way out of the desert. She looked over her shoulder and cocked her head over to her way, flicking her tail as if to tell them to hurry. Ashfeather and Nightpaw exchanged glances before following Silverheart and away from the crater that was once the library.

"Hey, I was thinking of something: If we dug Wan Shi Tong out of there, maybe he'd give us a ride," Ashfeather commented.

Silverheart felt her fur bristle at the thought of that. She definitely didn't want to go through that ever again.

**...**

Irontail gave a small sigh as he and Bearclaw continued walking through a fissure in the valley. Around them, there were several plants dotted here and there, and a few lizards were basking in the sun before being scared off by their shadows. And above them, the sun was blazing so hard that the two cats could barely believe it was newleaf.

Feeling tired, Irontail began to moan a little from lack of water. Bearclaw turned around to face his uncle.

"You okay, Uncle?" the dark tabby asked him. "Maybe we should stop for a while."

Irontail looked at him as he moaned, "No...please. Don't stop for an elder like me."

But he didn't say anything else, for he kept letting out more pained groans. Bearclaw gave him a look of sympathy before pulling the reigns of the pinto mare, stopping her; she was still able to work some more before her foaling began. He and Irontail dismounted, and the fat gray tabby tom groaned while leaning onto a large flat rock.

Suddenly, the mare raised her head up, pricking her ears. Clearly, she was detecting something unusual. Bearclaw seemed to understand, for he stepped in front of his uncle and took up a wary posture. His claws were unsheathed, and his teeth were bared, ready to fight to the death for his uncle.

"What now?" Irontail whined, feeling annoyed.

But then he saw them.

Dark Dragons were streaking through the foliage around them at a breakneck speed. Irontail could see the leader's Komodo dragon stomp the ground forcefully, breaking the surface crust before its master pulled back on reigns. Bearclaw was hissing at them as they circled the two rogues, continuing his defensive posture. But Irontail saw that these cats could be their allies.

Recovering fast, he padded over to his nephew and laid his tail on his shoulder. To the spotted tabby leader, he greeted him, "Greetings, Colonel Leopard. What a surprise seeing you here!"

But Leopard didn't smile. "So Griffin of the West, you must've lost a few steps if you're surprised we showed up." He put emphasis on his remarks by making sparks fly with his bracers clanging together.

The other cats around him nodded, baring their teeth and readying their weapons.

"Do you know them, Uncle?" Bearclaw asked Irontail, surprise in his amber eyes.

"Sure!" Irontail purred. "Colonel Leopard and the Dark Dragons are fabled fighters. Each cat is a different kind of weapons specialist, thus inflicting more damage to their targets. They are also a very talented singing group. You should hear the music they play!"

"We're not here to hold a show, you old bastard," Leopard hissed. "We're here to capture some fugitives. Fugitives like you."

But Irontail decided to play it cool and entertain them to distract them. So he meowed, "So who would like a bowl of cream for a while? I know I would love some. What about you, Hawthorn? I can see that you are more of the Mexican kind of cream-lover. Am I right?"

Unsheathing his claws, Leopard spat, "Enough talk! Round 'em up like the pigs they are!"

The dark gray tabby-&-white fighter swung his ball and chain at Irontail, who kicked the ball away. The ball, redirected, wrapped its chain around the foot of another warrior's lizard, making it fall over and hiss. Irontail dodged the fire blasts by tumbling along the ground, rising back up to swipe his claws at the rump of the lizard that had been chained. The lizard hissed in pain and ran off, yanking the dark gray tabby-&-white fighter who had one end of the chain attached to his ankle band as well as its rider. Irontail waved his tail to them as he watched them go.

The brown archer shot a lit arrow at Bearclaw's back, hoping to hit him by surprise. But the dark brown tabby sensed the arrow, turned, and broke the arrow in two with his jaws as it came near. Then he let a fire blast loose, which burned a hole in the archer's bow, not to mention burning this cat's paw as well. The blast passed through the bow and broke the string as easy as breaking a bone.

Irontail turned about in time to see Leopard letting loose a fire blast. But being the intelligent and strong cat he was, he deflected it. Bearclaw rushed up and leaped on the back of Leopard's lizard behind him. A brief duel proceeded, with Leopard being stunned and kicked off the rhino by the younger cat. Irontail ran up to the pinto mare, leaped up onto the saddle, and rode to his nephew. Bearclaw quickly leaped from Leopard's lizard into the saddle as Irontail and the mare galloped by.

The armored warrior, riding after them in pursuit, threw a grenade at the fleeing pregnant mare. The grenade exploded ahead of her, but Irontail and Bearclaw were able to ride through the mist of the explosion. Irontail didn't look back, but he was grateful that he didn't have to stick around for much longer.

"It's good to have old friends visiting us, eh?" Irontail purred to his nephew.

Bearclaw growled while glaring at where the Dark Dragons were. "Too bad you don't have old friends who don't want to attack you."

This seemed to make Irontail think of something. "Hmmm...old friends who don't want to attack me..."

**...**

Silverheart looked over her shoulder to see if the two other cats were keeping up with her. She was leading the pack, minus Goldwing and Archie, thought the desert. Occasionally, small plants would dot the dunes, but they didn't provide any shade. The three cats and hawk were hot, dry, and tired.

Ashfeather was using Tobias and his cat-length wings as a hat. As he slowed down, Nightpaw accidentally bumped into him, knocking Tobias off of his head. Silverheart sighed at that, for even small accidents seemed to flare up their tempers.

Breathing hard, Ashfeather rasped, "Really, Nightpaw? Can't you see where you're going?"

"No..." Nightpaw retorted tiredly.

"Oh. Sorry," he apologized hastily, remembering that she was blind.

Then the two cats pulled away from each other, but only to stumble into a bush filled with sticky weird-smelling sap and stuck together by it. After this, they tried to pull away from each other again, but they failed to do so.

Wanting for them to stick together, Silverheart coaxed them wearily, "Guys, come on. We have to stick together."

Ashfeather replied, "If we stumble into any more sappy bushes, sticking together won't be a problem."

The dark gray tabby tom tried to pull himself and Nightpaw apart; that way, the sap wouldn't stick to them as much. But Nightpaw gave an exhausted sigh and finally knocked Ashfeather down, disconnecting them.

"Silverheart, I'm thirsty," she whined to her mentor. "Can I have some water?"

The silver WaterClan she-cat felt sympathy at that request. Nightpaw was small, but she wasn't fragile; in fact, she was a tough EarthBender. But thanks to being out in the middle of the desert, her ability to see through the ground was limited. So for right now, they had to depend on faith and survival.

"Of course," Silverheart replied. "But don't drink it all. We have to try and save it up."

She Bended some water from her bag and suspended it between her and the others. Then she directed it to each mouth except her own, for she wanted to put the others' needs before hers. Ashfeather swished the water around in his mouth for a bit, and then he swallowed with a very disgusted look on his face. He was obviously not impressed with the taste.

"Wait, we're drinking your Bending water?" he asked her with widened eyes. "Aw, shit! You used this water on that swamp cat!"

Nightpaw didn't complain as much, but she did say, "It DOES taste kinda swampy."

Tobias smacked both parts of his beak together, which was like the bird equivalent of one who smacks their lips together. The red-tailed hawk let out a burp to show his disgust, and then he covered his head with his wings.

Silverheart, knowing that this was hopeless, groaned, "I'm sorry, you three, but that's all we have."

"Not anymore, we don't! Look!"

Ashfeather was pointing with his tail towards a large cactus a little off their path. He padded up to it, cut a piece off with his claws, and lapped up the liquid inside of it quickly. Tobias did the same thing, dipping his beak inside there and sipping away.

Something about that cactus made Silverheart feel uneasy. She remembered the medicine cat back home saying that a plant was dangerous if no one knew what it was. When Nightpaw went to make a move for the cactus, Silverheart held her tail with her jaws and pulled her back. Then the two she-cats ran over to see if Ashfeather was all right.

"Ashfeather, wait!" Silverheart scolded her older littermate. "You can't go around eating strange plants! Hasn't Sleetpelt taught you anything?"

"Don't you see it? There's water inside these things!" Ashfeather told her, pushing the cactus to her front paws.

When Silverheart saw the liquid inside of there, she was almost tempted to drink it down, but she held back. The first reason was that she had to take care of the others before taking something for herself. And the second reason was that she did not want to eat or drink anything that she didn't know about yet.

So she stood in Nightpaw's way and answered uneasily to her brother, "I don't know..."

Ashfeather shrugged and lapped up some more of the liquid inside. "Suit yourself then. Besides, this is thirst-quenching, though."

But then...it happened.

Ashfeather stood up as if he had picked up the sound or scent of another predator. Silverheart was about to lead them away from this spot, but when she looked back to see her brother, he wasn't moving. To make him move, she padded over to him and waved her forepaw in front of his face.

But instead of running, Ashfeather's pale blue eyes began to dilate rapidly, and he shook his head quickly. Then to Silverheart's confusion, he amazingly stood on his hind legs, took the cactus in his forepaw, and held it out in front of him. Then he meowed in a hazy voice:

"_Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier! It's the quenchiest!"_

To top it off, he even began moving across the sand like an inch worm.

Silverheart, confused and disgusted, took the once-offered cactus in her jaws and dumped the juice out of it. The liquid, for the moment, dried up in the heat as soon as it touched the sand.

"Okay. That's enough for now, don't you think?" she told her brother. Inwardly, she was mewing, _I can't believe it! My own brother high on cactus juice! Can anything get weirder? And worse?_

Ashfeather took this moment to meow, "Hey, who lit Nightpaw on fire?"

Tobias, meanwhile, got the same drunken side effects as Ashfeather. He spun about in a circle in the air and dive-bombed to the ground. The red-tailed hawk then got back to his feet and began staggering about a bit.

"Can I have some of that cactus stuff?" Nightpaw was looking over at her mentor in a thirsty way.

Silverheart shook her head, even though Nightpaw couldn't see her. "No. It's not a good idea. We can't waste any more time here. We have to find Goldwing."

"How'd we end up in the middle of the sea?" Ashfeather spoke up stupidly.

This made Silverheart groan and slap herself in the face with a forepaw. This journey was going to be longer than she thought.

**...**

"Archie! Archie, where are you?"

Goldwing had been flying about on his glider for around some time. Deep inside, he could hear his heart bellowing in anger and pain at the loss of his kithood friend. Instead of feeling calm and comforting himself that everything would be okay, he had a savage craving to slaughter whoever took Archie away from him.

So Goldwing took out his dragon whistle and blew hard to summon his beloved Asian Lung Dragon to him. But regrettably, there was no sign of Archie flying to him from anywhere. With anguish, he landed onto a sandbank and looked out around the horizon; Archie was just nowhere in sight.

"No..." he moaned, his anger replacing his sorrow. Then, seizing his staff in his jaws, he let out a screech and slammed his staff down onto the ground.

"NO!"

**...**

Not far away, Silverheart looked up from watching a scorpion hiding under a rock to see some odd thing far away. She beckoned Ashfeather and Nightpaw over to her to see what was going on. All three cats looked up to see something quite odd.

It appeared to be a large gust of sand in the shape of a mushroom. It towered higher than Archie's height could ever reach. Silverheart looked up in amazement, Nightpaw looked quite frustrated since she couldn't see, and Ashfeather just smiled widely up at it.

"What the hell is that?" Silverheart gasped.

Nightpaw looked around her as she mewed, "What? What is what?"

However, Ashfeather's eyes were widening and diluting as he squealed happily, "It's...a giant _mushroom_! Maybe it's _friendly_!"

Silverheart looked away from it and to her friends instead. "Don't worry about it. Let's just keep going." She gave a weary sigh as she added, "I hope Goldwing's okay."

"Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!"

Ashfeather's hazy voice made Silverheart and Nightpaw turn to face their friend. The WaterClan tom was on his hind legs, waving his forelegs about like an octopus towards the giant dust cloud. To add to this weirdness, he started swaying his body from left to right.

This little scene made Silverheart feel scarred for life while Nightpaw still looked irritated. Now Silverheart felt that they had to leave the desert as quick as they could. But first, they had to find Goldwing and snap him out of his angry rage. However, getting out of here with an angry Avatar Cat and Ashfeather drunk from cactus juice would be much harder.

**...**

"Yes, a black cat was around here with a golden cat and two gray cats. They passed through here a few hours ago."

Two cats, who were just Badgerclaw and Master Yu, had been stalking around this village for several minutes. They were on the search for Lin, the daughter of Chao Bei Fong, and they were not going to let her father down until she was brought home safely. Those wildcats were not going to snatch Lin away like that.

Right now, the large black-gray tom and the skinny gray tom were talking with another cat. This was a brown-&-white cat that was speaking to them.

Master Yu took the chance to mew, "Did they give you any hint where they were headed?"

"Can you be a little more descriptive?" the loner asked them.

"You suggesting I tear your eyeballs out?" Badgerclaw snarled.

This made the loner lower himself to the ground and quickly squeal, "They went into the desert! There might not be a chance that they survived."

Badgerclaw snorted. "That's okay. Either way, she's wanted dead or alive."

"She can't be!" Master Yu protested. "I'm sure her father said she wants her back alive!"

But Badgerclaw wasn't listening, for he had padded over to the poster sign. FireClan wanted posters were pasted up there.

"Look! FireClan posters!" he told Master Yu, pointing a long claw at two posters. One poster had a picture of a dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes and a FireBending scar over his left eye, while the other was a plump gray tabby tom with amber eyes and a flat face.

Master Yu frowned at this. "So?"

Badgerclaw rolled his eyes. "So look who's here!"

He cocked his head towards the cats from the poster padding right past them and into a different building. A pinto horse was pawing the ground with its hoof as it began gulping down some water from a tub of water.

This was one easy target they could capture. Make that two.

**...**

It was now sunset, and Silverheart, Ashfeather, Nightpaw, and Tobias still walked on across the desert. Silverheart was more worried about how they would sleep at night than when predators would show up. Plus, the scratch on her shoulder she got from a jackal at an antelope carcass seemed to get worse. Sometimes, the bleeding would stop, but it would sometimes reopen.

A shadow passed over their heads, and Goldwing landed behind them, kicking up a small cloud of sand. Silverheart approached him as he crouched down, upset to see the despair on his face. She hated to see him like this, but there was nothing else to do but try and comfort him.

"I'm sorry, Goldwing," she meowed, rubbing her pelt against his to comfort him. "I know this is hard on you; I know the same feeling. But we have to focus on getting out of this desert first. After that, we can search for Archie."

But Goldwing just hissed forlornly, "What difference will _that _make? We won't survive without Archie! We all know that!"

Silverheart nudged his shoulder with her muzzle, ignoring the pain in her own. "Come on! If we hold on together and work this out, we can survive out here. Right, Nightpaw?"

"As much as I can feel, we're stuck in the middle of sand water," her apprentice replied. "I got nothing.'"

"Fine," Silverheart sighed. Turning to Ashfeather, she asked him, "What about you. You got any ideas on finding BoulderClan?"

Sadly, Ashfeather was still high on cactus juice as he pointed to the darkening sky with his paw, Tobias lying beside him. "Why don't we just ask the circle birds?" he mewed with a blissfully goofy grin on his face.

Hearing this, Silverheart looked up to see three bird-like shapes circling far above them, flying slowly in a circle. These were buzzards, also known as vultures, and these birds were notorious for eating crowfood that could be left out for days. And right about now, the cats, after several hours of no eating or drinking or resting, seemed like crowfood to them.

The silver she-cat looked from the left to the right to see that the pack was slowly falling apart. Goldwing was too busy being angry to even give his friends a concerned look. Nightpaw was stumbling around from hunger due to being smaller than the other cats. And Ashfeather was just chuckling stupidly as he swiped his paw at Tobias' tail feathers.

There was one thing left to do.

"Listen up, you three!" she ordered. When they looked over at her, she explained like a leader planning a battle, "We're going to get out of this desert, and the only way we'll get out is if we work together! Goldwing, get your ass off the ground, and everyone grab each other's tails. We can do this." Partly to herself, she murmured, "We have to."

She padded over to Goldwing and managed to make him, though he was reluctant, grab onto her tail. Next, they went over to Nightpaw, who grabbed Goldwing's tail with her teeth. Finally, they went over to Ashfeather, who just quickly grabbed Nightpaw's tail as Tobias hung onto the end of his tail with his talons. When they set out, Tobias was hanging there like a rabbit hung from a tree, cawing feebly.

While the sun was going down, Silverheart saw the last thing of the day: buzzards. Those carrion birds were still circling above them and cawing in an ominous way. Silverheart wondered if they were an ill omen from StarClan, a sign if something worse was going to happen.

If so, how would they survive it?

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Stars had started appearing in the sky while the sun was slowly setting behind an old withered palm tree. The scorching sandstorms the four cats had gone through had finally subsided, but it took a toll on them. The sandstorm had left the four cats thirstier and weaker, especially with Goldwing suffering a scratch on his face from a sharp shard of stone that blew his way.

Silverheart looked behind her at the other cats as they padded over a sand dune. Ashfeather and Tobias were still high from the cactus juice while Nightpaw looked weaker. Goldwing, however, was still looking angry and sullen despite the blood seeping down his face. He had refused to let anyone clean it off.

"Should we stop for tonight?" Silverheart suggested.

The other three cats sighed with relief as they fell down onto the ground on their sides. Tobias, meanwhile, fell flat out onto his back with his wings spread out.

"Do you have any more water?" Nightpaw mewed, panting with her tongue hanging out.

Silverheart nodded. "But this is the last of it. Everyone can have a little drink."

Then she pulled the water pouch opening open and Bended out an orb of water. But Tobias got up, flew at the water, and tried to drink it, causing it to fall to the dry sand below. Ashfeather panicked and scrambled towards the wet spot in the sand.

"NO!" the dark gray tabby tom wailed. "Damn you, Tobias! You've doomed us all!"

"No he hasn't," Silverheart sighed. To prove it, she placed a white forepaw over the moist sand and Bended the water out of it. Then she Bended the water back into the flask and gave it to Nightpaw, who gratefully took a small sip before handing it back to her.

Ashfeather stared at her before adding, "Oh. Yeah. Bending."

Silverheart looked up at the sky before turning back to her brother. "Ashfeather, let me see that stuff you got from the library."

However, Ashfeather backed away, his fur bristling and his pale blue eyes widened with fear. The scrolls were underneath him, for he had them in a bag slung around his neck and they now hung right underneath him.

"What? I didn't steal any scrolls! Who the hell told you that?" he hissed. Then, rounding on Tobias, he spat, "You little rat! You ratted me out!"

At this, Tobias plopped down onto the ground and covered his face with his wings. It looked like he was crying, but it was hard to tell, thanks to the cactus juice.

"I was there with you, remember?" Silverheart reminded him as she gently took the bag away from him. To her relief, he didn't stop her.

"Does it matter?" Goldwing's sullen voice made them turn around. "Those scrolls won't tell us where Archie's at."

Silverheart pulled out a scroll and unrolled it, revealing a star map. "You're right about that. But we can find a path to where BoulderClan is at; we can use the stars from Silverpelt. If we do that, we'll travel at night when it's cool and rest during the day." She gave a sigh and curled into a ball. "Get some sleep, everyone. We'll start again in a few hours."

But as the other cats fell asleep, Silverheart looked up to the sky and watched the stars shining. She wondered if dragons were allowed in StarClan, but if they were, she couldn't see a new star in the sky. Archie could still be alive, but they had no idea where the Asian Lung Dragon was at right now.

But for right now, they had to survive in the desert.

**...**

As Bearclaw and Irontail sat down at a table in a bar, Bearclaw glared in an uneasy way at the other cats. The looks they were giving him made him feel uneasy because they seemed to know who they were. However, this didn't seem to bothering Irontail at all, for he was looking around him in a nostalgic way.

_He's probably gonna tell me about coming here when he was young, _he guessed. But his uncle didn't say anything about that.

"Uncle, no one's gonna help us here in this bar," he whispered to Irontail. "These cats look like filthy rogues."

"So are we, my nephew. Don't forget that _we_ are also rogues," the fat gray tabby tom purred, his orange eyes glowing. Pointing his tail to a cream-colored tom at a Pai Sho table, he added, "I believe we have found our ally."

Bearclaw stared at him with disbelief. "So you wanted to come here to gamble in Pai Sho?"

Irontail shook his head. "No. Pai Sho is usually not a game for gambling. It is a way of the arts."

At this, he leapt down from his seat and started padding over to the cream-colored tom. Giving a sigh, Bearclaw leapt down after his uncle and followed his uncle to where the other cat was waiting at. But then he heard a growl from beside him.

Bearclaw turned his head around quickly to see a large black-&-gray tom glaring at him through greedy yellow eyes. Beside him, a smaller and thinner gray tom was shivering with doubt and he looked like he didn't want to be here. Not wanting to attract attention, the dark brown tabby tom turned his head back around and followed his uncle.

"Let's get 'em now! Those shitheads won't escape from us!" the black-&-gray tom was growling as he sat up quickly.

The thin gray tom steadied him with his tail on his shoulder as he whispered, "This place is full of frantic characters. If they find out we're collecting a reward, we would have to fight them all just to keep our prize. Patience."

Bearclaw shivered at this before joining up with Irontail. The FireClan elder was talking with the cream-colored tom.

"May I have this game, sir?" Irontail meowed.

"Of course, sir. The guest has the honor of moving first," the cream-colored tom replied. When Irontail set down a phoenix tile down in the middle of the Pai Sho table, he purred, "I see you favor the phoenix gambit. Not many remember or cling to the old days."

Irontail nodded. "But those who do shall always have a friend indeed."

The cream-colored tom nodded back. "Then let the game begin."

The old Pai Sho player placed another tile on the board as soon as he finished. Irontail quickly placed another tile as well, and this repeated onwards. Bearclaw sat down near them and watched fixedly as the two toms placed tile after tile on the board in very fast succession. When they were done, the tiles formed the shape of a phoenix spreading its wide wings with the phoenix tile in the center.

Bearclaw himself was amazed at this. He had never seen a game of Pai Sho finished and played so rapidly before in his life. It was as if he was at a Pai Sho competition, where the players were swiftly placing tile after tile in front of each other.

"Welcome, brother," the cream-colored tom meowed to Irontail. "The Phoenix spreads her wings wide open for those who know her secrets."

Bearclaw stepped in, asking, "What're you elders wheezing about?"

"I tried to tell you Pai Sho is more than just a game," Irontail chuckled, rolling a tile between his paws.

Several whispers made Bearclaw freeze and twitch his whiskers. The black-&-gray tomcat was struggling with the skinny gray tom sitting beside him. And when the gray tom used his paw to hold onto his shoulder, the bigger cat pushed him away angrily.

"I ain't wasting all night listening to the old dumbasses!" he hissed. At the former FireClan cats, he roared, "It's over, you two! You two rogues are coming with us!"

As if hearing this, the cream-colored tom suddenly spat at the former FireClan cats, "I knew it! You're just crooks with a large price on your heads!"

Shocked at this, Bearclaw began to back away, his fur bristling and his back arched. As Irontail joined him, he hissed to his uncle, "I thought you said he was on our side!"

"He is," Irontail replied, still smiling. "Watch."

"Do you two think you can capture these crooks and collect the gold for yourselves?" the cream-colored tom was ranting to the two rogue toms.

"Gold?"

All of the cats in the bar looked up at the mention of the word 'gold.' Several of them unsheathed their claws and approached the group around the Pai Sho table, eyes sparkling greedily.

The skinny gray tom stepped back as he whimpered, "Um...maybe we shouldn't..."

But what happened next turned things into complete chaos.

Two tomcats (one brown, one black) jumped in front of the large black-&-gray tom. He spun around and delivered a great reverse roundhouse kick, Bending a rock from the floor which knocked the black cat away while he sunk his teeth into the brown cat's throat. The thin gray tom entered an EarthBending stance and Bended the earth beneath one of the attackers, causing him to sink into the ground up to his neck.

"Follow me!"

It was the cream-colored tom, kinking his head to the door. Bearclaw and Irontail didn't delay as they raced after him.

Bearclaw looked over his shoulder to see the large EarthBender fighting two SandBenders. He had one lifted in the air by the neck with his jaws and held down another down with his paws. The black-&-gray tom quickly kicked any other SandBender away that came near. He released the tom he was holding under his paws and cuffed him on the ears while he crunched down on the other's neck, blood spraying from the wound. The large tom grabbed an attacking cat in his jaws and threw him away, making that cat fly and smash into the wall behind the bar.

All this chaos left Bearclaw, Irontail, and the Pai Sho player running out of the building. When they looked back through the window, they saw the EarthBenders in their stances. They had both knocked out nearly every cat in the bar and even killed just a few, but they let their prey escape. The black-&-gray tom growled and slammed his front paws downward, causing a pillar of rock to shoot out from underneath a dead SandBender. The body made a whistling sound as it sailed through the window and hit a palm tree.

When this was all done, the three cats outside the bar left in a hurry.

**...**

Silverheart opened her eyes wearily and looked up to the sky. By the way the moon was in the east, it was very early in the morning, a few hours away from sunrise. The silver she-cat decided that it was time to buckle down and move on. If they left as soon as possible, they could cover some distance before sunrise and rest for another few hours.

After she got up and stretched for a little bit, Silverheart padded over to Nightpaw, prodding her apprentice with one paw. Silverheart was satisfied to hear a sigh, which meant that the black she-cat was awake, before going to Ashfeather. Tobias was burying the dozing dark gray tabby tom with sand.

"Ashfeather, get up now," Silverheart told him. "We have to go."

This made him grunt and sit up drowsily, sand falling off his pelt like water over a rock. In the meantime, Nightpaw had stretched and swiped her tongue around her lips.

"You know, my mouth tasted like mud yesterday," she muttered. "Now it tastes like sand. I never knew I'd miss the taste of sand."

Silverheart just shook her head with mock defeat before going to Goldwing, who had not curled up into a ball. Instead, he was stretched out on his left side while facing away from them. Just as Silverheart was about to nudge him awake, she was interrupted by a growl from him.

"I couldn't sleep. I'm still awake," the golden tom muttered.

This made Silverheart sigh, "Well, let's move on if we want to get out of this sandy hellhole."

But right when she finished saying this, something darker than the sky passed over the four cats. Goldwing and Silverheart looked up to see what it was that passed over them. There, floating in the sky past the large bright moon, was something in the shape of an Asian Lung Dragon.

Goldwing leaped up to his paws immediately and squealed with joy, "Archie! Is that you?"

"Archie?" Ashfeather repeated. "Why would Moonfeather need him? She's the moon. She can fly all by herself."

Silverheart chuckled at that, but she purred at seeing Goldwing happy like this. It had been hours since she saw a grin on his face, and it warmed her heart to see this. But a closer look at what was thought to be Archie revealed it to be nothing more than cloud.

The smile on Goldwing's face was gone and replaced with sadness and anger mixed in. Also, the warmth in Silverheart's heart faded away, for she felt her golden AirClan friend's pain like it was hers. Her mother had been killed by FireClan cats, and she wanted to prevent him from falling into depression.

"Oh. It's just a cloud," she sighed. But then she looked up again; she remembered Goldwing saying that clouds were made of water and that made an idea form in her head. What he had told her could help them find some water.

Turning to the upset Avatar Cat, she told him, "Goldwing, I have an idea. Fly up to that cloud and Bend some water out of it so I can put it in my water flask."

Goldwing gave her a death glare, and Silverheart thought he was thinking she was putting others before Archie. Still glaring at her, he snatched the water flask from around her neck and took off on his glider. In two passes, Goldwing quickly collected the cloud moisture. He threw the pouch down to Silverheart's forepaws and landed on all four paws on the ground.

Silverheart peeked into the pouch and groaned with displeasure. "Wow...no water in here."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Goldwing snapped angrily. "It's just a damn desert cloud! I did all I could! So what the fuck is everyone else doing? And what the fuck are YOU doing?" he added as he bared his teeth as her.

Silverheart looked back at him with complete shock; she hadn't seen him lose her temper at her before. But he had no right to accuse her of loafing around and not rescue Archie while she was helping the others. The shock look on her face hardened to a glare as she remembered what she had to do.

"Keeping us together, that's what," she retorted softly. But arguing about this was wasting their time, so she went on, "Let's go. We have to go in that direction."

Then she began reading the star map and continued to lead the group. The silver WaterClan warrior trusted her warrior ancestors to guide her and her friends out of the desert. But if they couldn't, then no one could.

After a few moments of walking, however, Nightpaw suddenly tripped and fell. She was sitting down and rubbing her stubbed left hind foot with her forepaws, which had dried blood encrusted all over. Next to her was a wooden object sticking out of the sand. Silverheart turned around to help her apprentice out while Ashfeather and Tobias wandered off to fool around.

"Oww! Shit!" Nightpaw was cursing. "I'm sick of not feeling where I'm going? And what mouse-brain is stupid enough to leave a boat in the middle of the desert?"

"A boat?" Silverheart asked her, looking at the wooden thing. "Is this it?"

Nightpaw grunted, "Must be. But believe me, I stubbed my paw against it too hard to feel those vibrations."

Ashfeather let out a sigh of relief as Goldwing stepped forward and swung his staff in a wide horizontal arc, kicking up sand. When the dust cleared up, a sand glider like the ones used by the SandBenders appeared. Silverheart had never been any happier to see something that cats that captured Archie used.

"A SandBender boat! Like the ones SandBenders use!" she cheered. More calmly, she looked over at a compass on the boat and purred, "They left a compass too! It should help us get out of this desert." Turning to Goldwing, she told him, "Try Bending a breeze so we can sail through it. We're going to make it, you three!"

A wild bout of laughter made her, Goldwing, and Nightpaw turn around to see what was funny. Ashfeather was laughing in a drunken way as he buried Tobias in the sand while the hawk was sprawled out on his back. While they were staring at him in a weird way, he just gave them a bigger smile and lashed his tail as if giving them an 'Okay' signal.

But for right now, they weren't worried about that. Ashfeather's drunkenness would wear off and they would leave the desert. They were going to make it.

_StarClan willing we make it._

**...**

After that brutal brawl in the desert bar, Bearclaw, Irontail, and the cream-colored Pai Sho tom fled from that village and escaped to a better-looking village. Soon enough, all three cats were sitting outside a building in the moonlight. The cream-colored tom quickly made sure no one was watching before shutting the door. Inside, it became apparent to Bearclaw that the building was nothing more than a flower shop.

Bearclaw had never seen a flower shop that looked so bizarre like this. It was filled with many tropical plants and fruits he had never seen before. He even poked a forepaw at one flower and it retreated swiftly into a shield of green petals.

The cream-colored tom turned to face Irontail and nodded to him, purring, "It is a great honor to welcome a worthy member back to the Order of the Phoenix. You must know many secrets; you are a Grand Master, after all."

"Now that you played Pai Sho already, is this really the time for flower shopping?" Bearclaw huffed; he was running out of patience with all the mysterious stuff going on. "Or is this secret club offering us with _real_ help?"

Irontail gave Bearclaw a warning stare and then turned back to the cream-colored tom. "Please forgive my nephew, friend. He is not a member yet and he knows little of the hidden ways."

The Pai Sho cat nodded to his friend before scratching a little at a door in the back. A miniature window in the middle slid open, and a pair of orange eyes peeked through.

"Who knocks on the sacred gate?" the owner of the eyes asked.

"One who has eaten the sacred apple and tasted its mysteries," Irontail answered.

The door was opened, and Irontail and the Pai Sho player entered. Bearclaw attempted to follow them inside, but the door was shut in his face instead. Irontail slid open the door's window to talk to his nephew.

His uncle meowed, "I'm sorry, nephew, but I'm afraid this is for members only. Wait out here, please."

_What? Why? _Bearclaw wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut. He knew that if he insisted, this new help would not help. They could even drive them away or capture them for a reward like those EarthBending cats at the bar.

So he just frowned and obeyed his uncle by stepping backwards from the door just as soon as it closed. He noticed that the flower that retreated into the leaves earlier had arrived once again, so he busied himself by batting at it again. But it ended up with the flower retreating into its shelter yet again.

Giving up, he just looked over to a bright orange flower and sniffed at it curiously.

**...**

Sometime later, the four cats had gotten the sand glider out of the ground and were now working together and speeding through the desert. Goldwing was driving it forth by Bending powerful gusts of air into the sail. Silverheart was standing on the upper platform and navigating using the compass and star map.

"According to these charts, the needle on this compass doesn't point north," she announced.

"Just take it easy, girl," Ashfeather was saying dreamily. "I'm sure those desert animals who built this hunk of wood know how to get around here."

The dark gray tabby tomcat was sitting behind his sister and sitting on Tobias' tail feathers. The mentioned hawk was cawing drunkenly as the night sky and noisily snapping up insects.

Silverheart just sighed and looked back to the path. But then, something made her gasp: a giant rock sticking out from the sand in the distance. She called to the others, "That's what the compass was pointing to! It's that giant rock! It's the magnetic center of this desert!"

"A rock?" Nightpaw's ears pricked up at hearing this, her whiskers swaying with glee. "That's awesome! Let's go!"

"We could find some water and prey there," Silverheart sighed happily.

"Or some SandBending cats," Goldwing muttered darkly, scraping his unsheathed claws against the wood.

Silverheart didn't say anything, but she did give him a worried glance. Despite finding hope, the golden tomcat was still hell-bent on getting revenge on the SandBending cats and to find Archie. In fact, he didn't look like himself anymore; the bright smile was replaced by a snarl of rage, his dark gray eyes were filled with anger and pain, and his fur was constantly bristling.

But that didn't matter for now. They had possibly found a source of food and water. They were going to make it.

**...**

It was now dawn, and the sun lightened the sky in a shade of bluish orange. The four cats parked the sand glider at the foot of the large rock and began climbing to the top. Hopes in finding food and water remained in Silverheart's mind, but she kept telling herself that her friends must have food and water before her.

When they reached the top at last, there wasn't any sign of food or water...yet. Silverheart didn't sadden at not seeing prey or something to drink; she knew it would come around in time.

"Ah...finally! Land sweet land!" Nightpaw purred as she climbed to the top. At this, she fell onto her back and moved her legs back and forth, creating an earth angel in the rock surface.

Silverheart smiled at that; despite what she had went through, Nightpaw had been firm to finding solid land for her liking. Plus, there was the matter of cleaning the caked blood off her paws. In fact, they could all use some herbs right now. Goldwing needed some cobwebs for the cut on his face, Silverheart herself needed burdock root, Ashfeather needed something to cure his drunken state, and Nightpaw needed some ointment for her paws.

All of a sudden, she scented something reeking that made her curl her lip in disgust. Silverheart realized that the smell was coming from inside some strange round caves carved into part of the massive rock. Giving her friends a signal whisk of her tail, she led them on into one of these caves.

Covered all around the cave's surface was a yellow gooey substance that looked strangely like honey. "I suppose we could use honey for cracked voices," she murmured to herself.

Ashfeather began sniffing the air and sighed happily, "You know what? I think after that cactus juice I drunk, my head's starting to clear up! And look!"

"Don't!" Silverheart swiftly exclaimed. _He's learned nothing from eating strange things,_ she thought.

It was too late for the silver she-cat to stop her crazy littermate. Ashfeather had already padded up to the wall, grabbed some of the sticky substance with his paw, and, after he gave some to Tobias, ate some of it. He quickly spat it out and made a disgusted gagging noise.

"Disgusting! This tastes like crowfood!" he gagged, rubbing his head a little with the other paw. "Now I'm feeling woozy again."

"You dumbass!" Silverheart scolded, irritated at her brother's attempt at this stunt. "You've been drunk from cactus juice since yesterday at sunhigh! And now you just go and lick something off of a wall in a cave? Have you got bees in your brain?"

Ashfeather did nothing but shrug. "I'm a cat. It's natural for cats to have natural curiosity."

Nightpaw stepped in between the two warriors as she commented loudly, "I don't think this is actually a normal cave. I bet this was carved out of something."

"She's right," Goldwing added, losing the despair in his voice. "Just look at the shape of those holes."

"There's some buzzing in here," Nightpaw went on as if Goldwing hadn't interrupted her talking. "Something's coming for us!"

Then something small and yellow-and-black made Silverheart look over at it. It was a wasp, and it seemed to be buzzing for something. But it did something strange: instead of buzzing after the four cats and stinging them, it flew off into the hole in a large domed structure which resembled a hive carved from the rock.

Suddenly, large black talons swiped at Silverheart, and she had to bend low for cover. A vulture had swooped out of the hive-like structure and tried to slash at her with its talons. But it wasn't alone, for Goldwing and Nightpaw were recoiling away as another vulture tried to take one away if Nightpaw hadn't swiped its beak instead. And Ashfeather was leaping about alongside Tobias as two vultures tried to snatch them up in their beaks.

The wasps weren't the ones in charge of this hive. The vultures were.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

One screech after another told Silverheart that more vultures were flying out of the weird holes and towards the cats. Several more of them emerged from the cave and began flying above and screeching. Goldwing was swinging his staff down at one that approached and blew it back with a gust of air. A vulture landed near Nightpaw, but Silverheart knew the black she-cat could sense it because she Bender a pillar of rock up from beneath it, sending it flying.

_What in StarClan's name is going on with these birds? _Silverheart thought with panic. Vultures weren't usually aggressive birds, eager for bloodlust. They were always scavengers that would not bother other animals, or they would flee from a bigger scavenger like a wolf.

Another vulture swooped in between Nightpaw and Ashfeather, shrieking loudly. As fast as she could, Nightpaw stomped the ground with her front paws and popped a boulder into the air. She lifted it up and smashed it down several mouse-lengths away from Ashfeather. Blood and brown feathers sprayed the bottom of the rock as it squashed the buzzard to death.

"What the hell were you doing?" Ashfeather scolded the black apprentice. "That rock could've crushed me to a pulp!"

Nightpaw snapped at him, "Sorry, but I can't sense flying animals!"

Ashfeather was going to snap at her again when a vulture swooped above the four cats. So he crouched low and waited as the bird of prey got closer. "I got this one."

When the vulture finally got close, the dark gray tabby tom leapt into the air and lashed his claws out at it. Silverheart saw the vulture start flying away from her brother, blood spraying from a wound on its face. Another vulture got close to Ashfeather, but he kicked it with a powerful kick at the neck.

Finally, there were no more coming towards Ashfeather, but he was still slashing at nothing. So Silverheart called to him, "Ashfeather! There aren't any vultures attacking you!"

"Really?" He landed on his paws and turned to face her. "Wow. I guess my head isn't that clear then."

Silverheart turned to look at Goldwing and Nightpaw, who were still fighting the vultures. She raised her voice and yowled at them, "Goldwing! Nightpaw! We need to get out of here!" She slashed her claws at an arriving vulture, leaving a scar along its body, as she added, "I'm out of water to Bend!"

A screeching sound made Silverheart turn to see Tobias fighting young vultures. Even though they were birds of prey, the vultures were much bigger than the red-tailed hawk. Tobias landed on a vulture's back and threw it down towards the rock with all of his might. But when it hit the ground, another one flew at Tobias and snatched him up in its talons before flying away.

"Tobias! No!" Goldwing wailed. Then his face went from shock to dark anger as he hissed, "I'm not losing another friend out here!"

When he finished, he took out his glider, opened it up, attached it to his back, and took off after the fleeing vulture. Tobias' screeches made Silverheart wince, but she had to guide the others to safety first.

Seeing it was Goldwing's turn to do something, she turned to the others and commanded, "Let's go. We need to get down."

Above them, vultures were flying everywhere until the dawn sky was covered with dark brown wings and feathers. Silverheart, Ashfeather, and Nightpaw began making their way down on a narrow ledge. But several vultures began following them, squawking with rage as their talons glinted in the approaching sunlight. There was one way to get rid of these pesky crowfood eaters.

So Silverheart ran over to Nightpaw, grabbed her shoulders with her forepaws, and turned her to face the vultures. The mentioned birds gave them confused looks before one of them launched itself at the cats.

"Nightpaw, one's coming at us!" Silverheart told her apprentice. As the small blind she-cat readied her EarthBending pose, she meowed, "Ready...fire!"

Nightpaw rose to her hind paws, stomped down, and popped a mass of rocks into the air before shooting them forth with a double tail strike. The rocks made a direct hit at the vulture, hitting it square in the chest. With a terrified caw, it fell to the ground with a thud, thus making the others fly away to find a new target.

Ashfeather was on his hind paws, cheering, "Yeah! She got it! ...did she?"

Silverheart nodded. "Yes. But we have to go. Move it!"

**...**

Tobias cawed miserably as he tried to struggle out of the vulture's steely grasp. The red-tailed hawk tried biting it on one talon, but it refused to let go. A few kicks or two had earned him a long scar running from his head to his neck, the blood falling to the warm desert ground below.

A screech made him and the vulture turn to see what was going on. Goldwing was now flying under the vulture and rolled over, Bending a gust of wind with a strong kick that forced it to let go of Tobias. Scared at first, Tobias began falling, but he gained control, flapped his wings, and flew next to Goldwing. But he did not like the look on his master's face as he glared over at the vulture trying to flee.

He glided very close to the ground and closed his glider. Still flying forth, Goldwing swung his staff down in a clawing motion and shot a powerful blade of air that split the sand. The vulture, now just a black dot against the sun, was struck by the attack, cutting it in two. It fell from the air and hit the sand with a bone-crunching thud, leaving it dead.

Tobias flapped his wings and flew over to see what it looked like. The vulture had been sliced cleanly in two, but blood was everywhere, a few internal organs had fallen out, its wings were broken, and its beak was open in a final caw of fright. Why would Goldwing do this? It wasn't in his nature to kill for revenge; he would usually kill to eat. This was the first time Goldwing had murdered someone or something.

The golden tom glared coldly at where the vulture had fallen and stalked back to the giant rock. Tobias flew back to him and landed on his shoulder, but he was still scared by his loved master's cruel act.

**...**

"On your left!"

Nightpaw smashed a rock down from a cliff and shot it at another vulture, which shrieked on impact. There were still many vultures hovering around the foot of the rock and the sand glider. When one vulture got near her apprentice, Silverheart leapt forward and sliced its face open with her claws, making it back off. Ashfeather leapt at another one and bit it on the throat, causing it to fall to the ground.

It really looked like the end for the young Clan cats. But apparently not...

Suddenly, huge pillars of sand erupted upwards, scaring the vultures. They flew up and back to their hive, with the wasps waiting for them. The three Clan cats looked away to shield their eyes from the sand. When they looked back, they saw SandBending cats surrounding them. They were recognizable thanks to several wrappings on their bodies and their pelts mainly brown.

Goldwing had flown back to them with Tobias at his side as they landed beside them. When the golden Avatar Cat looked at the SandBending cats, there was a look of hatred that Silverheart did not like to see. His fur was fluffed up until it was shaking and he was hissing, ready for a fight.

**...**

_Bearclaw padded around the forests of StarClan, his jaws open to taste scents of prey. There was a vole scuttling underneath a few ferns, nibbling on a sunflower seed. Thankful for the plentiful prey, Bearclaw crept forward, ready for a well-deserved meal._

_Suddenly, two cats erupted from the bushes and faced the young dark tabby. One was a young dark tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat with warm amber eyes, a white muzzle, and a black tail tip. The other was a shaggy dark gray she-cat with a broad flattened face like Irontail, scars all over her body, and large orange eyes. At first angry, Bearclaw sat down, wanting to hear more from StarClan._

"_Bearclaw," the tortoiseshell meowed softly to him. "We know about your pain, and we can help you along the way. But first, Mapleshade needs to go."_

_The dark gray she-cat snarled, showing snaggly yellow teeth, "How can we, Spottedleaf? We have to let the Clan cats figure out their problems first! But ever since the Warrior Code had been changed..."_

_Spottedleaf gave her a glare. "Yellowfang, you know Firestar did the right thing in changing some of the rules. If he hadn't, where would we be? But Bearclaw," she told the dark brown tabby, "we are watching over you, and we hope you will choose the right path. But for now, you must find your honor within you."_

"_But how can I?" Bearclaw asked her. "I've been exiled from my Clan. If I can't return, then I won't regain my honor."_

"_Honor must not be given out like a piece of fresh-kill," Spottedleaf told him gently. "Honor must be earned as you do good. I believe it is soon time to discover your own destiny."_

"_She's right," Yellowfang added. "Destiny will come to you when you seek it. Now wake up! Your uncle just finished that meeting!"_

Bearclaw opened his eyes a little to see that he had been lying on his side in front of a flower. What did Spottedleaf and Yellowfang, two very respected StarClan cats, want to come to him for? What had he done wrong, besides letting Mapleshade influence him?

Suddenly, to his right, the door opened and a cat stepped casually out. Bearclaw leapt into a defensive stance, only to relax when Irontail appeared, smiling broadly. This made him sheathe his claws and lay his fur flat.

"What the hell is going on, Uncle?" Bearclaw asked, padding up to join him.

Irontail smiled broadly at him. "It's all right, nephew. Everything is taken care of. We're going to BoulderClan."

This made Bearclaw raise a brow. "BoulderClan? Why would we go to EarthClan's capital city?"

"The city is filled with immigrants," the cream-colored Pai Sho cat meowed, coming up to them. "No cat will notice two more."

"We can hide in plain sight there," Irontail added. "And as of right now, it's the safest place in the world from FireClan. Why, even I couldn't break through to the city when I was a warrior," he added with a slight chuckle.

Just then, the door opened, and Bearclaw prepared for those EarthBenders to come back. Instead, it was a ginger tom with white paws stepping into the flower shop.

"I have two passports for you guests," the Order member meowed. "But right now, there are two other cats looking for you."

_Two other cats?_

Bearclaw looked away from the other cats and leaped onto the windowsill to take a look out to the streets. It was going to be a bright sunny morning, but this morning just got ruined by two cats.

It was the two EarthBenders they avoided back at the pub. The skinny gray tom was shaky as he padded beside his angry partner. The larger black-&-gray tomcat was snarling as he took a few sniffs at a few bushes here and there, swatting them when he couldn't find a scent. Irontail leaped up the windowsill with some difficulty to see what was going on.

"Hey, you!" the black-&-gray tom spat at a brown cat, holding up a wanted poster. "You see these two anywhere?"

The cat shrugged, making Bearclaw and Irontail sigh with relief. But they were also filled with anxiety, for it would be a matter of time before they were found. And Bearclaw knew what it was like to be captured like fresh-kill; he didn't want to face that problem ever again.

So Irontail gave Bearclaw a curious look before both rogues leapt off the sill. Thankfully, the two EarthBenders hadn't seen them. But for right now, their main objective was not to hide from these cats.

Now their job was to get to BoulderClan. And soon.

**...**

As the Clan cats stared at the SandBending cats, Silverheart turned to see Goldwing's look again. His stormy gray eyes were still filled with hate, and his claws were fully extended; the pressure of this look caused the wound to open up again and blood spill down his face. But he didn't seem to care about his injury; it was as if the anger was keeping the physical pain at bay.

A middle-aged mottled brown tomcat marched forward. His orange eyes scanned the four Clan cats before he sat down to talk with them. Beside him was a younger tomcat that looked just like the SandBending leader, except this cat had green eyes.

"I am Basir, the leader of the Northern SandBending Tribe," the mottled brown leader meowed. "What are you doing in our territory with a sand glider? By the looks of it, it looks like you stole it from the Southern Tribe."

"We didn't," Silverheart told him truthfully. "My friends and I found it abandoned in the desert. We're travelling with the Avatar Cat," she added, flicking her tail at said cat. "Our Asian Lung Dragon has been stolen, and we desperately need him back. We need to get him back to get to BoulderClan."

But the younger mottled brown tom stepped forward and spat, "How dare you accuse us of theft! You're one to talk since you got here with a stolen glider!"

A hiss from behind them made Silverheart turn about to see what was going on. Nightpaw was narrowing her pale green eyes towards the speaker, her ears flattening with suspicion.

Basir held his tail out to silence the younger cat. "Ghalib, that's enough. No one had accused our Tribe of anything. If what they said is true, then we must treat them with hospitality."

"I'm sorry, father," Ghalib replied, dipping his head in respect toward him.

A gasp from behind them made Silverheart turn around again to see if it was Nightpaw. Indeed it was, for her mouth was opened agape and her pale green eyes were widened with shock.

"It was him!" she cried out, flicking her tail at Ghalib. "I recognize the son's voice! It was HIM who stole Archie!"

Silverheart gazed at her with amazement. "Are you sure, Nightpaw?"

Nightpaw nodded. "I never forget a voice."

Suddenly, a creepy growl forced Silverheart to step back and let the owner of the growl to pass. It was Goldwing, whose golden fur was bristling until he looked like a cat that was robbed of its kill. Silverheart felt fear flood her mind and heart just by looking at him; it was as if his bad side had just killed his good side and taken over.

Wielding his staff spitefully, Goldwing growled, "You damn SandBenders stole Archie! Where is he? What did you do to him?"

Ghalib displayed his teeth into a snarl as he growled, "They're lying! They're the ones who are thieves!"

But Goldwing didn't seem to buy it; in fact, his claws unsheathed as he spouted this lie out. He let out a roar of rage, swung his staff down, and destroyed a sand glider with a blast of air. The camels pulling some smaller carts were braying with fear at this sight. Then Goldwing turned to face the SandBending cats again, unstoppable rage etched on his face.

"Where...is...my dragon?" he spat every word out.

**...**

Out of the door of the flower shop stepped a gray-&-white tom pulling a wagon with two large flower pots on it. After he left, Badgerclaw and Master Yu approached the door, eager to find their targets for a prize.

As Badgerclaw burst the door open with his body force, they stared around at the interior of the shop. The force of the charge caused a flower pot hanging overhead to fall and shatter. He held up the wanted poster to the light gray florist tending the plants.

"You there!" Badgerclaw growled. "Have you seen these two around? I've got a feeling they're in your shop somewhere."

The florist gave the two cats a calm yet confused look. "But look around you. As far as you can see, there are no others here but us."

"We know about your secret room," Master Yu meowed. To Badgerclaw, he demanded, "Knock it down."

"Hey! That room is for flowers only!" the light gray tom meowed as Badgerclaw stalked over to the door.

The large black-&-gray tom backed up a bit before charging at the door and slamming his weight at it. The force was so powerful that it knocked down the whole doorframe and the stone around it. Badgerclaw and Master Yu padded to the back room, only to find the room to be empty, save for a circle of mats and a Pai Sho phoenix tile in the middle.

Master Yu picked up the phoenix tile in his paw and sighed. "Ah, an unlucky soul has left their incomplete Pai Sho set behind."

"Shit!" Badgerclaw snarled angrily, his paw swiping the tile out of his paw. "Screw this bounty stuff! Let's just get back to searching the she-cat!"

Meanwhile...

The cat with the wagon was pulling the two pots over some sand mounds just outside the village. From under the flowers in the two pots, Bearclaw and Irontail poked their heads out and took a brief look around to search for the bounty hunters. The former FireClan cats sighed with relief before sinking back into their hiding spots.

They were on their way to BoulderClan.

**...**

"You tell me where he is! Now!"

Goldwing looked so angry that Silverheart thought she was looking at a demon instead of the Avatar Cat. The silver she-cat felt herself backing away a little bit from him, but she stopped quickly. Even though the other two backed away until they were up against the rock, Silverheart stood still.

Without waiting for an answer, Goldwing let out a screech and swung his staff around viciously. The SandBending cats watched on in shock as another one of their sand gliders was destroyed by a blast of air. Goldwing watched without sneering, but his teeth were bared to their full length.

"Ghalib, what did you do?" Basir hissed, rounding on his son. "Tell us the truth in the name of StarClan!"

"I-it wasn't me!" Ghalib stammered. "I-I promise it wasn't me!"

Nightpaw stepped forth and retorted, "Liar! You were the one who said to put a muzzle on him!"

"You _muzzled_ my dragon?" Goldwing snarled, sounding so infuriated even Bearclaw couldn't beat him in an angry contest.

At this, his eyes and arrows glowed white as he began to enter the Avatar Cat State. He twirled his staff around and demolished one of the few remaining sand gliders with yet another air blast. Blood started seeping down his face as he peeled his lips back to give the SandClan cats the most frightening snarl Silverheart had ever seen on his face.

_What happened to the cat I used to know?_ she thought with dread. _Now he's being so..._evil.

When the SandBending cats saw this, they cowered before him. Ghalib cried, "I'm sorry, Avatar Cat! I had no idea the dragon was yours! Forgive me!" he added, padding closer and bowing low.

But instead of accepting it, Goldwing swiped his claws at his face, causing blood to spray onto the sand. Then he growled at Ghalib in a demonic voice, _**"Tell me where Archie is! NOW!"**_

"I-I traded him! To dealers!" the mottled brown tom cried. "He's most likely in BoulderClan by now! They were going to sell him as a festival animal there! Please, Avatar Cat! We'll guide you out of the desert, we promise! We'll help however we can!"

Suddenly, the air around Goldwing slowly began to pick up and spin around him as he entered the Avatar Cat State entirely. Then he began pulling in sand and creating a small tornado, so tall that he was completely surrounded in it. It looked like he was going to kill the SandBending cats for causing him so much pain.

"Guys! We need to get out of here! Run!" Ashfeather called.

As he said it, he grabbed Nightpaw by the tail and gently pulled her away from Goldwing. Both Clan cats, Tobias, and the SandBenders all fled for their lives. The sand tornado grew larger and spread quickly as Goldwing was slowly lifted from the ground. Nobody seemed to want to get near and calm him down in fear of being killed.

All except one.

Silverheart wanted to stay and face the danger and help him. Remembering what happened at the Southern AirClan camp, she slowly made her way through the violent windstorm and grabbed Goldwing's tail. He glared down at her with anger and hate, but he was only met with the young silver she-cat's sad expression. This plan seemed to be working at long last.

Relieved at him finally calming down, Silverheart dragged Goldwing back down and embraced him with all of her heart. Ashfeather and Nightpaw looked back from protecting their eyes as the wind became less violent. Tears were streaming from the AirClan warrior's glowing eyes, and Silverheart went on doing her best not to let go of him. And at last, the wind finally died down, but the sadness didn't go away.

At last, Goldwing left the Avatar Cat State and let his head rest against Silverheart's chest. She looked down to see him bury his face into her long chest fur, and his body was wracking with sobs. To return the embrace, she bent her head down and licked him motherly on the forehead.

_It'll be okay soon, Goldwing, _she meowed silently to him. _I promise._

Those several days had been too much for all four cats to bear. Of course they found information about the solar eclipse and they now know where Archie was at. But this had also caused trauma for all four of the cats due to the loss of Archie, but Goldwing had suffered the most. If there had been anything bad that happened to him like the loss of his Clan, Archie's loss had struck his heart deeper than a dagger could reach. The loss of AirClan was bad enough, but this...this was enough to make things worse.

Silverheart looked up to the sunlit sky and murmured a prayer to her mother in StarClan. _Mother, please show mercy on Goldwing. He has suffered a great loss. And please show us the way to BoulderClan._

_Please show us the way._

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Once again, Katara, your motherly instincts prevail. I'm proud of you.**

**Katara: (Smiles brightly as she hugs him) Thanks, Avatar Cat.**

**AvatarCat12: (Returns the hug) Any time, old friend. Any time. So if you'd like, you can say the review thing and the preview for The Great White Pass**

**Katara: Thanks! (To the readers) Read and review, everyone! Those who do will get virtual S'Mores, but flames will be used to cook them, Advice and constructive criticism and advice are very welcome here.**

**Preview: After making it out of the desert, Goldwing and his pack are asked to escort a family of loners across the Great White Pass. Goldwing is no longer angry, but he's now hiding his feelings from the others. Meanwhile, Bearclaw and Irontail are greeted by a rogue who wants to help everyone out on their way to BoulderClan.**

**Both: See ya next time!**


	13. The Great White Pass

**AvatarCat12: Believe it or not, folks, I could have uploaded this chapter days ago. But I deliberately put this off until today.**

**Aang: (Comes into the office) Why?**

**Katara: (Hugs him) Good to see you back, Aang. But he's right, Avatar Cat? Why?**

**AvatarCat12: This episode will be a Mother's Day episode since kits will be born on here. But hey, Aang. Since you're back, would you like to say the disclaimer and summary?**

**Aang: (Smiles) Sure!**

**Disclaimer: AvatarCat12 owns none of this...but he owns the cat version. That's all.**

**Summary: After making it out of the desert, Goldwing and his pack are asked to escort a family of loners across the Great White Pass. Goldwing is no longer angry, but he's now hiding his feelings from the others. Meanwhile, Bearclaw and Irontail are greeted by a rogue who wants to help everyone out on their way to BoulderClan.**

**Uploading Date: May 13, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_The Great White Pass_

It was a few sunrises since Goldwing and his pack finally got out of the desert, thanks to the SandBenders. At first, these desert cats had asked if they could help them find their way to BoulderClan. But remembering that his beloved dragon was stolen by them, Goldwing had coldly refused.

Now they were staying at an oasis near the edge of the desert. It had a freshwater pond, fit for swimming and even drinking, making this site a good place for resting and relaxation. Flanked by a large tiered cliff on one side where a waterfall gushed into the pond below, the pond was also a good place to play by using the high ledges as diving boards to jump into the water.

For right now, Goldwing was swimming on his back in the water encased in ice, hoping to keep those bad memories at bay. Ashfeather was sitting on top of one of the rocks, studying one of Wan Shi Tong's maps carefully as Tobias watched from his shoulder. And Nightpaw was sitting nearby, scratching her ear for any fleas she picked up while in the desert, before lapping at some of the water.

"Hey, guys! Look at me!" Goldwing looked up to see Silverheart standing on a cliff. "It's a WaterBending Dive Battouga!"

The Avatar Cat had to crack a smile at this despite the pain he felt earlier. He was surprised to see that she invented a diving move named after his signature attack.

Silverheart let out a cheerful yowl as she leapt into the air and started falling fast towards the water. Then she leaned forward and started spinning around in many circles, making her look like she really WAS using the Battouga. This went on all the way until she reached the water, and Goldwing prepared himself for a massive spray of water.

The splash Silverheart made caused a huge column of water to wash Goldwing ashore, shattering his ice block. As water drenched them all, Goldwing and Nightpaw began laughing with delight. He himself felt adrenaline run through his veins as he was washed ashore, shaking water out of his pelt.

"Oh, that's fine," Ashfeather grumbled, holding the drenched map in his forepaws. "There's a pile of many-moons old maps lying here. Just soak 'em all you like."

Silverheart laughed brightly as she padded into the sunlight, looking very graceful and gorgeous as she shook the water out of her fur and threw her head fur back. Goldwing blushed hard when he saw her like this. While she shook herself dry, she purred, "Sorry. I'll clean it up."

At this, she used a swift WaterBending skill to draw the water out of the map Ashfeather was holding. The other cats assembled around the rock as the dark gray tabby tom held the map out on the ground. Even Tobias, who was busy hunting fish, rose from the water with a fish in his talons as he landed near them.

"So did you find what path we take?" Goldwing asked his WaterClan friend.

"Yeah," Ashfeather told him, pointing out some map landscapes. "We just got out of that damn desert, thank StarClan, so we must be around here. We need to get to BoulderClan; that's over here. It looks like the only passage connecting the South to the North is this sliver of land called the Great White Pass."

Nightpaw looked down at the map with interest. "You sure you know where to go?"

Ashfeather rubbed the back of his head with his paw. "I'm just saying. It's the only way there now. I mean, it's not like we need to fly Archie over there."

Hearing this part, Goldwing turned away and flattened his ears with sadness. If Archie hadn't been stolen by the SandBending cats, they would be at BoulderClan right away. And he would also have his oldest friend and animal guide by his side.

"Ashfeather, shut up about Archie," Silverheart scolded him in a hushed voice, laying a forepaw on Goldwing's shoulder. "Can't you be a bit more sensitive?"

"It's okay, Silverheart." Goldwing coolly turned to his friends, who had looks of surprise on their faces at this calmness. They were afraid he would yell at them again. "I was upset when Archie was stolen, and I wish he was never stolen. But let's just get to BoulderClan and tell its leader about the solar eclipse."

Silverheart just backed away from the golden tom, surprised at this reaction. Then she mewed, "Um...okay then. I'm just happy you're feeling better."

"So we're off to BoulderClan!" Ashfeather told everyone. "From now on, until we get there, no more distractions!"

"Hello there, fellow loners!"

The four Clan cats turned around to see what or who interrupted them. A black-&-white tom with a big smile on his face was waving his tail to them. Alongside him were a brown tabby-&-white she-cat, her belly heavily swollen with kits, and a younger gray tabby she-cat. There was a pack mule behind them, its back heavily loaded with baggage, but there was no sign of strain on its face.

Goldwing felt a twinge of empathy when he saw the pregnant tabby queen. A she-cat who was expecting kits should not have to risk going out too far from her den. But something about this small family made him wonder what they were doing out here. He turned on the spot, thinking that Ashfeather would turn them away, but his face changed to a look of worry.

"Greetings!" Goldwing called to them. "Are you three going to BoulderClan too?"

"Sure are!" the black-&-white tom called. "My name is Hermes, the pregnant tabby is my mate Rhea, and the younger tabby is Hestia. We're trying to get to BoulderClan before Rhea has her first litter of kits." He softly rubbed his face to his mate's face while his tail gently rubbed her swollen belly. Rhea did the same.

"Good!" Silverheart purred. "We can travel across the Great White Pass together!"

But then, something weird happened. Instead of going over to them, the three loners stared at her in horror.

The pregnant queen named Rhea rasped in fear, "The Great White Pass? Only truly desperate cats could take that deathly path."

"Deathly path," Nightpaw repeated, glaring irately at Ashfeather. She planted her claws painfully into his hind paws, growling, "Good choosing, dumbass!"

"What?" the dark gray tabby warrior protested, his eyes watering at the pain. "We're desperate!"

Hermes looked over his shoulder as if looking for a predator. Then he turned to the others and told them, "Can you come with us to Moonstone Bay? There are ferries that can take refugees across the water. It's the fastest way to BoulderClan."

"Plus, it's a hidden place so FireClan can't find it," Rhea added helpfully.

Silverheart sat down and tilted her head to one side, muttering, "Hmm...a peaceful ferry ride or a deathly pass? Which one should we choose?"

**...**

The Moonstone Ferryboat Landing was... gloomy, where three large ships were anchored past a protected wall. Behind the harbor wall, many cats had gathered on a stone landing. Goldwing and his pack had arrived behind two guards standing at attention. One of them Bended down a wall section behind them, revealing a hidden tunnel. The pack and their new traveling cohorts emerged from the tunnel, looking around them.

Goldwing looked closely over Silverheart's shoulder to see what was going on. There was much pain and suffering from many cats oppressed by FireClan. Even though he felt sympathetic, the young golden Avatar Cat couldn't focus on the pain of others. What was more important was that they had to get to BoulderClan and tell the leader about the eclipse.

"I can't believe how many cats had their lives uprooted by FireClan. It's like a Twoleg knocking a tree down, where many have made their home," Silverheart sighed. She was watching a tabby queen trying to feed her mewling kits.

"Thankfully, we're trying to search for a better life," Hermes replied. "And it's safety. Safety behind the walls of BoulderClan."

**...**

The three ships, lying side by side, began riding beside each other as the center vessel launched. It emerged from the inlet and out onto the great lake. Here and there, several flying fish were leaping out of the water while dolphins eagerly followed the ships, hopeful of finding leftover scraps.

Bearclaw sighed as he laid beside his uncle Irontail. Since they had gotten on the ship, the fat gray tabby elder had been watching the water and not saying anything. But for right now, they were happy they got passports for BoulderClan. And Bearclaw was eager to try and put his troubles behind him. However, they were slowly rising to the surface.

"Ah...Irontail sighed gravely as he gazed out over the bay. "Who would have thought, after all these moons, I would return to the scene of my ultimate defeat...as a tourist ?" he finished in a cheerful tone. When he completed the speech, he turned to his nephew, putting on a floral straw hat and a wide grin on his face.

"Look around you, Uncle," Bearclaw hissed grimly. "We're not tourists; we're refugees. Rogues." Then he lowered his large head and began lapping at the dinner in a bowl given to him.

Something in that was so bad that the large dark tabby ran over to the edge of the boat and spat it out like a curse. After rubbing his tongue with his paw, he growled, "Bullshit! I'm sick of eating food fit for rats, sleeping in the dirt like a worm! I can't go on like this," he moaned, lowering his head at last.

"Aren't we all?"

Bearclaw looked up to see who had spoken. It was a tall brown-&-ginger striped tomcat with bright orange eyes and a claw cut across his face. Beside him were two cats: a dark tortoiseshell cat covered in dried mud and a pale tabby tom equipped with archery gear. The brown-&-ginger cat had a sly grin on his face as he held a stalk of wheat in his jaws.

"My name's Flash," the rogue tom meowed, dipping his head to the former Clan cats. Flicking his tail at his friends, he added, "These are my Freedom Fighters and comrades. The tortoiseshell is Hornet, and the pale tabby is Spearhead."

Hornet gave them a tail flick in greetings while Spearhead nodded in his own greeting. Bearclaw just nodded and gave them a "Hello" before looking back over the lake.

Flash stepped forth and meowed seriously, "I got something to tell you. I heard the captain on this ship is eating like a pig while the rest of us eat his scraps like dogs. That doesn't seem fair, now does it?"

"Pardon me, but what kind of pig would he be eating like?" Irontail meowed, hunger in his voice.

"The fat happy Berkshire kind," Flash told him while the former FireClan elder drooled. Turning to Bearclaw, the brown-&-ginger tom asked, "So how would you like to help us...'liberate'...some fresh-kill?"

Bearclaw looked at Flash, hardly believing what he was hearing. Here he was, grouching about not getting some real food, and a rogue was telling him how he could get some. At first, he was tempted to tell him to go away so he could catch something for himself. But hunger was starting to take a hold on him, and he knew what his answer was.

He glared down at his bowl of gruel with disdain before nudging it over to the edge of the ship. Then he turned around, glared over his shoulder at the bowl, and kicked it overboard to where the sharks were gathering.

"I'm in."

**...**

"For the last time, fruits and vegetables are not allowed!"

Goldwing turned to see a cruel-looking old black-&-tan she-cat stamping letters on a platform speaking harshly to some other cat. And the cat she was screeching at was the gray tabby lettuce merchant from when he, Silverheart, and Ashfeather were apprentices. All three cats wondered what he was doing here, but they knew he was there for the same reason all the other cats were.

He was going to find shelter at BoulderClan.

As the gray tabby lettuce cat looked up in desperation, the black-&-tan official growled, "One lettuce slug could destroy the entire ecology of BoulderClan! Security!"

When the word came out, a large purple Diatryma dressed in a uniform marched over to him and destroyed his goods with its beak, cart and all. The lettuce merchant fell to the ground, paralyzed in despair. Two guard cats picked him up by the scruff and carried him away past Goldwing and his friends.

"NOOOO! MY LETTUCES!" the merchant screeched as he was hauled away.

"Next!" the official yelled.

Goldwing looked back at his friends, who were clearly expecting him to do the talking. Before he could complain, Ashfeather pushed him forth and sat behind him to make sure he talked. Tobias flew over to Goldwing and landed on his head, watching the scene before him.

_Damn. I hope I don't screw things up._

"Um, I'd like four tickets for a ferryboat to BoulderClan," he meowed hesitantly.

The official glared down at him from the pedestal. "Passport?"

Goldwing stared in shock before looking at his pack behind him. "No one told me I needed one."

Ashfeather stepped up to the podium and laid his tail on Goldwing's shoulder, growling, "Hey, don't you know who the hell you're talking to? He's the Avatar Cat!"

"I've seen fifty 'Avatar Cats' every day," the official growled, sounding blasé. "And by the way, that's not a good pelt color at all."

She pointed her tail over the left, showing a speckled group of tomcats in Avatar Cat costumes lounging together. Goldwing smiled nervously and nodded in their direction, as Tobias flew over to see them and flew back to his shoulder.

The official took one look at the red-tailed hawk before growling, "One more thing: no other pets allowed. Or should I call security?" she added in a menacing voice.

Goldwing dared to look over to see the Diatryma pawing the ground with its talons. It glared at him and Tobias with a head of lettuce in its beak before chomping it hard with the sharp tips of its beak. Tobias cawed with fear before hiding behind his owner in fear of being crushed by that massive pair of jaws.

"All right. I won't argue here," Goldwing confessed, backing away. "I'll go now."

The official glared at him before calling for someone else to come forth. Goldwing padded back over to his friends and told them about what happened. But he felt he didn't need to add the part of the Diatryma, for they had seen it themselves.

I'll take care of this," Nightpaw told him, padding past him to the official. To her, she meowed, "Good morning. My name is Lin Bei Fong, and I need four ferry tickets." At this, she pushed up a paper bearing a gleaming golden emblem.

"Ohhh! That's the Golden Seal of the Pegasus!" the official meowed, awe in her tone. Dipping her head in a flourish to the black-furred apprentice, she went on, "It is an honor to help a cat of the Bei Fong family."

Nightpaw tossed her head back in a false haughty manner. "It IS an honor. As you can see, I am blind, and these three rat-brains are my servants." She jerked her head back to the others, who were grinning foolishly in a group hug.

The official nodded before meowing cautiously, "But the hawk-"

"-is my seeing-eye hawk," Nightpaw finished for her while Tobias flew to her and landed on her shoulder. "He helps me go wherever I need to go."

"Well...usually, it's only one ticket per passport," the official muttered. "But this paper is official! I guess it'll be worth four tickets."

Nightpaw dipped her head forward in respect. "Thank you very much."

As the she-cat took four pieces of paper and stamped them repeatedly, Nightpaw turned on the spot and winked at the Clan cats. Goldwing winked back, amazed that this had actually worked. At first, he was tempted to ask the black she-cat if she could use the same trick every time. That way, things would go easier for them.

But he knew it the wrong thing to do, and it would put bad pressure on Nightpaw. If they kept doing it, they would be too dependent on the young blind she-cat, and they didn't need that. So he watched as Nightpaw leapt onto the pedestal and collected the four tickets from the official and padded away.

As Goldwing, Silverheart, and Ashfeather followed her to the ferry, Ashfeather was up on his hind paws and cheering. "All right! You did it, Nightpaw! We sure tricked her! BoulderClan, here we come!"

However, as soon as he meowed this, the dark gray tabby tom was suddenly pulled back by the tail. Goldwing didn't know what dragged him back, but he turned around to see who it was.

Glaring at Ashfeather was a pretty ginger she-cat with bluish-green eyes and white paws. She looked as if she had caught them tricking the black-&-tan official, and it seemed like she was turning them in. Wanting to stay on the good side, Goldwing beckoned for the others to come back with his tail.

"Tickets and passports, please," the ginger she-cat meowed firmly, lashing her tail from side to side.

Ashfeather, who looked unsettled, just asked her, "Um...is there a problem?"

The she-cat narrowed her eyes and slid her claws out as she hissed with a menacing tone, "You bet so, smartass. I DO have a problem with you. I've seen your kind before: sarcastic, thinking they're funny, AND traveling with the Avatar Cat," she added with a sneer.

"Do...I know you from somewhere?" Ashfeather asked her, his pale blue eyes narrowing.

"You don't remember?" the she-cat spat. She leapt at him and shoved him to the ground, pinning his shoulders down with her forepaws. "Well, I'll bet you remember _this_."

And to everyone's surprise, she leaned down and gently licked him on the cheek.

While Ashfeather looked up at her with shock, Goldwing suddenly saw that the ginger cat did look familiar. Despite the ginger pelt and white paws, there was something about her green eyes and her behavior towards Ashfeather. He remembered a certain cat that was living on a certain island in the middle of the sea.

_Is that...can it really be...?_

"Echo!" Ashfeather purred, nuzzling the she-cat happily as he got to his paws.

Now Goldwing saw that this cat had indeed looked very familiar. This was Echo In Quiet Storm, the leader of the island-guards from the Tribe of Heavy Roses. He did indeed remember her and Ashfeather clashing with one another due to their genders; it appeared they had become friends during their stay.

Echo now looked happy as she purred while rubbing her face to the dark gray tabby's face, "It's so great to see you again, Ashpaw!"

"It's Ash_feather_ now," said tom replied while she smiled warmly at him. "Goldpaw's warrior name is Gold_wing_, and Silverpaw's warrior name is Silver_heart_. And the black she-cat here is Nightpaw."

"Is she your to-be?" Echo asked him, using the Tribe term for apprentice.

Silverheart meowed politely, "Sorry, but no. She's _my_ apprentice."

Ashfeather nodded at her before turning to Echo. "Now tell us more about how you've been."

**...**

In minutes, the four Clan cats and Tribe cat were at a covered tower on the harbor wall, scanning the landing and the harbor. Echo and the four Clan cats were continuing their reunion inside the tower. This was taking place after the ginger she-cat asked her boss for a small break from work.

Silverheart was mewing, "Wow, Echo. You sure look different with the ginger fur instead of the red tabby fur. And you don't have those white markings on you."

"Yeah," Echo replied, dipping her head in respect towards the silver warrior. "That cranky black-&-tan bitch makes us dye our fur and take away the white marks." Looking over at Ashfeather, she added seductively, "And look at you, big guy. You been working out while you were away?"

Ashfeather looked away, making sure that the other cats didn't see him blushing, as he replied, "Well, I could grab a tree branch and do a few jaw pulls every now and then. But other than that, nothing major."

He finished by flexing his burly shoulders and patting his strong foreleg with his other forepaw. The dark gray WaterClan warrior had been training harder than his other friends, thanks to his determination to defeat FireClan. But Goldwing hardly blamed him; this was his dream to help fight for his Clan.

Looking back at Echo, Goldwing asked her, "Are there any other Tribe cats around here?"

Echo nodded. "After you three left the island, we wanted to help fight for the Clans...as a Tribe. So we got this job of escorting some refugees, and we've been here ever since." She looked out over refugee camp, just as Tobias leaped up from the floor next to her.

"Hey, Tobias. Good to see you again," the island-guard purred as she rubbed the cooing male hawk's head. Turning her head back to the others, she asked them, "So why are you Clan cats getting a few tickets for a ferry to BoulderClan? You could just fly over the lake on Archie."

But at the mention of the missing Archie, the four Clan cats looked down. When Goldwing looked from the corner of his eye, he saw Echo looking at them with confusion.

"Archie was stolen by rogue cats," Silverheart sighed with sadness. Taking a look at the gold-furred Avatar Cat while he looked away, she went on, "We hope to find him at BoulderClan."

Echo looked at Goldwing with concern. "Oh. I'm so sorry, Goldwing. Are you okay?"

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Goldwing felt annoyance boil under his pelt. He stood up and snapped at her and the others, "Of course I am! Stop worrying about me for at least one minute!"

That caused the four others to look at him with shock. Ashfeather was giving him a critical glare, but he ignored it. He didn't want any sympathy right now, and hearing them give it to him made him feel worse. But the sooner he got to BoulderClan, the sooner they could tell the leader about the eclipse the coming greenleaf.

"Goldwing! Avatar Cat Goldwing!"

The golden AirClan tomcat looked down from the tower to see who was calling out to him. Hermes, Rhea, and Hestia were running towards the tower, Rhea rasping with the extra energy she was using while carrying kits. By the look on their faces, they looked upset and exasperated. They had run forwards until they were underneath the shadow of the tower, looking up at him.

"What's wrong?" Goldwing asked them, leaping down and facing them.

Rhea was crying, "You have to help us! A rogue stole our belongings while we weren't looking! Our mule, our passports, and our tickets...they're all gone!" She began sobbing into Hermes' neck fur while her mate and Hestia tried their best in comforting her.

Feeling sorry for this family, Goldwing promised, "Let me have a talk with that official. Maybe she'll get you new ones."

**...**

"No passports, no tickets!" the black-&-tan official growled, stamping a stamp on Goldwing's forehead.

The AirClan warrior licked his forepaw and rubbed it all over the stamp. When it was gone, he pleaded, "But she's expecting kits, and their belongings got stolen by a rogue. Please make an exception."

But the official snapped, "No exceptions! If I give out tickets randomly to any cat, that would be the end of order! And guess what comes after that? No more society! And after that? No more Clans!"

"Well, what if we gave them ours?" Goldwing asked her, hoping this would work. But this was not true.

"No!"

"But..."

"NEXT!"

Goldwing flinched as flecks of spit landed on his face. He strode away from the podium, rubbing his face all over a boulder sitting there before going back to his friends. When he shook his head, showing them his plan failed, the family of loners looked sadder than ever.

"Don't worry," he reassured them. "We'll get you three to BoulderClan. I'll lead you through the Great White Pass."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing looked sideways in frustration; the ferry they were supposed to be on had left without them. But the Avatar Cat was going to keep his promise to escort the family of loners across the Great White Pass. Nothing was going to stop them in their quest.

"I can't believe we had to give up our tickets!" Ashfeather moaned. "NOW we'll have to go through the Great White Pass!"

"And I can't believe you're still whining about it," Nightpaw yawned, looking tired of hearing him whine.

"I'm coming with you."

The seven other cats and hawk turned to see Echo sprinting towards them. The island guard from the Tribe of Heavy Roses was once again fully clad in her island-guard uniform and white face painting. Her pelt had also been changed from ginger to its usual red tabby color.

Ashfeather was looking at her with something that made Goldwing suspicious. He was looking at her as if she had just gotten a disease, or as if she had her spine broken. Goldwing didn't know what was up with the dark gray tabby tom.

Said tom meowed warily, "Are you sure? I mean, a shark could snatch you up easily."

Echo stared at him in surprise. "But I thought you wanted me to come along?"

"Yeah!" Ashfeather told her. "It's just..."

"Just what?" Echo growled, looking annoyed. "Go ahead. Just what?"

"Nothing," Ashfeather meowed. "I'm happy you're coming with us. I really am."

But Echo didn't look convinced; instead, she looked like he just pushed her roughly away. The red tabby she-cat stalked up to the head of the pack, shouldering Ashfeather to the side as she did so. The WaterClan warrior looked down with disappointment before following her and keeping his distance. Silverheart, Nightpaw, and the loners padded after them with Goldwing lagging behind.

Goldwing realized why Ashfeather was being cautious around Echo. This reminded him of when they were at the Northern WaterClan, where Ashfeather fell in love with Moonfeather. When the white she-cat died saving WaterClan, the dark gray tabby had been depressed for a while until he chose his warrior name after her.

But he had no idea how to comfort him. And for right now, he didn't want to.

**...**

In a bird's eye view, the Great White Pass was a narrow sliver of land extending out across the great lake. But to the cats, it looked like a normal passageway to BoulderClan. There were barely any plants or animals around here save for fish in the water. And not to mention that there were a few seagulls dotted here and there along the rocks.

"So this is the Great White Pass?" Ashfeather meowed, looking around. "Huh. I thought it'd be wide with large pointy rocks like sharks' teeth. I guess it's a misnomer."

The other cats pivoted their ears to him to show him that they heard. No one said anything as they quietly padded down the path to the entrance to the Pass. Up ahead of them was a large wooden oriental archway, the pass rising straight and steep beyond.

Rhea padded forward to look at the sign next to it. When she read it, she gasped, "Oh my. This is awful."

"Well? What the hell does it say?" Nightpaw spoke up, impatient due to her unable to read.

Silverheart padded forward, rested her forepaws on the post, and read, "It says 'Give up hope.'"

"But how could we forsake hope? It's all we have," Rhea sighed with despair. Then the pregnant brown tabby-&-white she-cat buried her face into her mate's neck fur again for comfort.

"I'm not sure," Goldwing replied calmly. "The monks told us hope is just a distraction. I think, for the sake of our lives, that we just leave it."

"What?" Silverheart turned towards him, an incredulous look on her face. "What're you saying?"

Goldwing turned to her and explained, "Hope won't get us to BoulderClan, and hope really won't get Archie back for us. For now, let's just focus on getting our mission done. And our mission is to go through the Great White Pass."

Silverheart gazed at him somberly. "...all right. If you say so."

Goldwing nodded to her and walked up ahead, the silver she-cat slowly following him. The other cats followed them through the pass, Goldwing and Silverheart at the front, and Ashfeather and Echo bringing up the rear.

While they had padded onwards through the pass, they discovered that this was a narrow piece of land. It consisted mostly of rocks and a few mangrove trees spotted here and there. Right now, the eight cats were walking in a single-file line as they travelled on an unsafely narrow path high along the cliff face.

"FireClan's in control of the western lake," Echo described as they padded along the path. "I heard rumors that they're working on something big on the other side of the lake. What's more is that they don't want anyone else to see what it is."

As she meowed this, she flicked her tail to a FireClan war vessel noticed cruising in the distance. Everyone glanced at it nervously as it slowly patrolled alongside the Pass. They didn't want any FireClan cat to see them walking on the Pass, or they would be fresh-kill.

All of a sudden, a piece of the path gave way underneath Hermes, who yowled in shock. But as he fell, he was swiftly caught by a quick EarthBending move from Nightpaw. Her quick rock protrusion flipped him back onto the path and, when he climbed back on, Hermes gave his mate and family friend a comforting lick.

"I'm all right!" he purred. Despite what happened, he looked quite cheerful.

The eight cats looked down nervously at where the broken part of path had fallen. Some of the rocks had cracked from falling onto bigger rocks and splashed down to the water below in one fall.

However, there was a loud sound that sounded a bit like a whale mixed with a roar. The FireClan ship had suddenly launched an attack at them from its deck catapult. There could be one reason why they were doing that.

"They found us!" Ashfeather yowled. "Let's go, everyone! Go, go, go!"

_Not if we can stop it! _Goldwing thought defiantly.

At this, he leapt into the air, ignoring Ashfeather's warning, and launched off of the cliff face at the fiery mortar. Stopping it in the air, he sent it shooting back with a sweep of his glider staff to crash among the warship's smokestacks. As the ship caught fire, it launched yet another attack from its second catapult. This one crashed into the cliff side above, and Ashfeather pushed Echo forward as rocks tumbled down toward them.

Falling rocks were now falling towards the dark gray tom, thanks to what he did. But Nightpaw turned around and Bended out a canopy of stone to divert the rocks away from Ashfeather. For a moment or so, Goldwing hoped he would thank his sister's apprentice. But seeing he was safe, Ashfeather rushed forward to gather up the surprised Echo.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, covering her in concerned licks. "You should be more careful! Let's go!" he added, padding past Nightpaw and ignoring her.

This caused Nightpaw to roll her eyes and meow to herself, "'Thanks for saving me, Nightpaw.' 'Hey, no problem, dumbass.'"

The small black cat turned about and raced after the others as Goldwing rushed in behind her. Soon enough, all eight cats were fleeing far from the burning FireClan ship, unaware if they had killed anyone or not.

**...**

Sunset had already come over the Great White Pass, the sun disappearing over the surface of the water. This made the water look like it was bleeding, thus calling it a "sun-drown place." And since the cats were camping behind a big protrusion of rocks, it looked like the place got darker. Since there were no predators on the Great White Pass, they decided to sleep out in the open.

After travelling, it was time to hunt and rest. Silverheart was teaching Nightpaw how to bury prey after hunting and Goldwing had gone off to wherever StarClan knew where. Hestia was busy stalking a seagull before leaping forward and catching it in her jaws, while Hermes was helping Rhea get settled in her nest of grass.

Echo, meanwhile, had scooped out rocks and grass from under a boulder for a nest. But for some reason, Ashfeather didn't want her to sleep there. There could be a predator after all on the Pass, and it could attack her. He wanted to protect her from the threats that could attack her right there.

So he padded over to her and mewed, "Echo, don't sleep near there." He took the nest in his jaws and dragged it over next to his nest of dried seaweed. "Do you know how stable that ledge could be? It could give way, and you'd be sleeping with the fish."

"Ashfeather, I'm okay," Echo insisted, padding over to him. "Don't worry about me."

"I know, I know." Ashfeather waved his tail at her dismissively. "I know you're capable of taking care of...OH SHIT!"

He had leapt up suddenly, thinking he saw a spider slip into Echo's nest. Ashfeather made Echo stop going to her nest for a moment or two and rummaged through her nest. After digging, he saw that it was just a shrew that had curled up before scurrying away. Echo gave Ashfeather an indignant glare.

The WaterClan cat mewed, "Whoops. False alarm. It was just a shrew. You're fine."

He reached his left forepaw up and patted her softly on the shoulder. But Echo looked disturbed rather than grateful at what he did.

**...**

Back at the Earth kingdom ferry cruising beneath a moon-lit sky, and at the upper deck, the two toms, Bearclaw and Flash, looked over at the others. Hornet and Spearhead were already in their positions, ready to intervene if anything went wrong. They were planning on stealing food from the captain's kitchen to feed themselves and the other cats. For a moment, Bearclaw was tempted to pull away from the heist and wait for later.

But thanks to his growling belly, he decided it was now or never. The large dark tabby nodded towards Flash, and the brown-&-ginger tom nodded back.

As a guard passed by with a lamp, Bearclaw sneakily led Flash and Hornet upstairs and around a corner; he thanked his Red Demon alter ego for his craftiness. They paused to look in the kitchen window, and then they slipped around back. Flash used a foreclaw to pick the lock while Hornet kept watch, then Bearclaw and Flash burst into the kitchen.

Once they got in, Flash leapt onto the rails on the ceiling and put hanging bird carcasses into a sack. Meanwhile, the larger tabby used one of his swords to nimbly stack eight bowls of food together, securing the stack with a ribbon. Both rogues placed their sacks on their backs and turned to the doorway.

"Guards are coming here!" Hornet hissed silently.

The three cats rushed to the balcony edge, while below, Spearhead fired a line-strung arrow into the railing, waiting until the bundles were tied there. Both bundles slid down the line, followed by the three thieves. The arrow was pulled free just as another lantern-bearing guard stalked past, not knowing what hit him. Once the guard went away, the four cats slunk away into the darkness, melting like shadows.

**...**

_So you're leaving in the morning, on the early train._

_I could say everything's all right_

_And I could pretend and say good-bye_

After hunting training was done, Silverheart made sure Nightpaw was safely in her nest asleep. When the black she-cat closed her pale green eyes and began snoring, she looked up to see where Goldwing had gone off to. Out of all the places she picked to rest, she chose the place where the golden tom had went off to.

At this, she got to her paws and padded to the edge of the cliff, where the full moon was rising over the lake. Goldwing himself was sitting still and looking out across the water, his whiskers quivering in the breeze and his tail behind him. There was so much calmness and coolness on his face that it disturbed Silverheart a lot. But she knew he was trying to hide his feelings.

Standing behind him, Silverheart mewed, "Goldwing? It's okay for you to miss Archie. Out in the desert, all you cared about was finding Archie. Now while we're off to BoulderClan, you're acting like you don't miss him. What's going on with you?"

"You saw what I did in the desert," Goldwing mewed, facing her as she sat next to him. "I was so angry at the time, I-I just couldn't control myself. I hated how I felt back there; it wasn't anything I felt before."

_Got your ticket, got your suitcase, got your leaving smile._

_I could say that's the way it goes._

_And I could pretend and you won't know_

_That I was lying._

"But now, you're not showing your feelings," Silverheart reasoned. "I know it can hurt to hope, but...it hurts even more to care. But please promise me, Goldwing. Promise me you won't stop caring." She got up and embraced him in the normal cat way and added, "Come on. You need this hug more than anything."

To her dismay, Goldwing wrenched himself away from her embrace. Seeing the shocked look on her face, he dipped her head politely to her and mewed, "Thanks for your concern, Silverheart. But not now."

He padded away to a nearby nest, making Silverheart look after him feeling worried. It looked like Goldwing had put the past behind him, but he had put his feelings behind him too. Hiding one's feelings wasn't good for the cat attempting to do it, but he didn't seem to care right now. She was worried about what happened to the young AirClan cat she called her friend.

'_Cause I can't stop loving you._

_No, I can't stop loving you._

_No, I won't stop loving you._

_Why should I?_

**...**

The moon was full and round like a sphere, but it didn't make Ashfeather feel much better. He knew that whenever the moon was full, he would think of Moonfeather beside him. But he felt worse when the moon was covered by clouds, so he got back to thinking about Echo. Ashfeather hoped Moonfeather would approve of him liking Echo.

_Moonfeather, please watch down on Echo. I don't want to lose her too, _he prayed.

_We took a taxi to the station._

_Not a word was said._

_And I saw you walk across the road_

_For maybe the last time, I don't know._

Ashfeather's tail twitched as he sat on an arching stone near the camp. Suddenly, he could smell a familiar scent of seawater and snow; he turned to see it was Echo. The red tabby she-cat was padding up next to him and looking up at the moon, her green eyes filled with memories.

"The moon sure looks beautiful tonight," Echo murmured softly.

"It sure is," Ashfeather agreed. But he held back _"And so do you."_

Echo leapt onto the stone arch and faced him. "Look. I know you're trying to protect me, and I'm actually grateful. But I can take care of myself. Okay?"

Ashfeather nodded. "I know."

"Then why are you acting like I'm a newborn kit?" she asked him, frowning.

"It's hard to lose someone you care for," Ashfeather replied, looking away from her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her gazing at him with concern on her green eyes. She looked gorgeous in the moonlight and so sympathetic, but Ashfeather felt he couldn't tell her. If so, she would become jealous of Moonfeather and make him forget about her.

But she had also become his friend in the Tribe of Heavy Roses after she cured him of sexism. She deserved to know the truth.

_Feeling humble, I heard a rumble on the railroad track._

_And when I hear that whistle blow,_

_I'll walk away and you won't know_

_That I was crying._

So he turned to her and explained, "When we went to the North Pole, there was a battle between us and FireClan. And...I lost someone I cared about. I lost someone I was supposed to protect with my life. I couldn't protect her. I don't want anything like that happen to any cat ever again."

"I understand," Echo mewed. Then she looked attentively at him and added, "I lost someone I cared about too. A tom, so to say," Seeing the shocked look on his face, he purred, "Don't worry. This cat didn't die. He just went away. I only knew him for a few days, and I saw three things I liked about him: smart, brave, and funny."

Feeling worried that another tom was courting her, Ashfeather stood up indignantly. "Who is this damn tom? Is he taller than me?" He rose onto his haunches and reached his forepaws up to the night sky.

Echo shook her head. "No. He's the same height as you."

"Fur color?"

"Same."

Ashfeather felt stumped. He tried saying, "Is he better-looking than me?"

The island-guard purred as she got closer to him, "It's YOU, beetle-brain!"

"Oh..." he murmured, looking into her eyes.

'_Cause I can't stop loving you._

_No, I can't stop loving you._

_No, I won't stop loving you._

_Why should I?_

Echo was now so close to him that he could see his pale blue eyes in her bluish-green orbs. They were the same color as a tropical sea on a warm and sunny day. Her red tabby fur was glowing a silver color in the moonlight like Moonfeather. She looked so beautiful to Ashfeather that he just briefly forgot about the white she-cat for the moment.

Ashfeather got back down onto all four paws, bringing him closer to her face. Echo was moving forward as her tail twitched happily, and her whiskers gently brushed with his. He closed his eyes as he leaned in towards her face, the moon hanging between them. This was his chance...he would never lose her ever again...

But...

_No...I can't._

"No," Ashfeather rasped, pulling away from her. As he saw her looking upset, he added, "I-I just can't."

"Oh," Echo replied, hanging her head. "I'm sorry."

Ashfeather turned away from her. "No. You don't have to apologize."

And with that, he bunched his muscles together and leapt down from the stone arch. While he went over to his nest for the night, he looked over his shoulder to see Echo's expression. She looked apologetic and upset he didn't reveal his feelings to her. He was still sure Moonfeather would object to this and that Echo would not be his mate. But the moon was shining brightly, not covered by clouds to show StarClan's anger.

Did he make the right choice?

_(Even try) I'll always be here by your side._

_(Why, why, why) I never wanted to say good-bye._

_(Why even try) I'm always here if you change, change your mind._

**...**

Rich spicy flavors of the soup sang on Bearclaw's taste buds as he imagined lapping up the soup. He and Flash had already fed the other thankful cats easily by passing out the dishes. They went back to steal some more stealthily for themselves and their respective packs. And what was even better was that the guards had no idea the thefts were taking place.

Finally, Flash had dropped five bowls and plates of food down to his pack and to the former Clan cats. Bearclaw instantly dug into a roast chicken, thankful of the tender cooked meat moistening his tongue. Caught prey normally tasted good, but it was a while since he ate anything cooked.

_Beat that, Mapleshade! We can do anything without you!_

"So...Hornet, was it?" Irontail was meowing kindly to Hornet, who looked up at him. "That's a fine name for a tom."

"Maybe so, because I'm not a tom. I'm a she-cat!" Hornet snapped, giving the fat gray tabby tom a peeved look. Still glaring at him, she rose to her paws, turned around, and stalked away.

Irontail called after her, "I see it now! That's a fine name for a she-cat!"

However, Spearhead quickly got up from eating and padded after Hornet, standing in her way. The pale tabby tom placed a firm paw on the mud-furred tortoiseshell's shoulder, complete with a stern look. Bearclaw couldn't help but wonder why this cat couldn't talk.

With an apologetic look on her face, Hornet muttered, "You're right, I know. As long as I'm confident with the cat I am now, it doesn't matter what others think of me. Thank you, Comrade Spearhead."

Spearhead nodded, giving her a look of stern approval.

The two rogues padded back to the group, where Flash had padded to them with a turkey in his jaws and sat down. From the look in his eyes, Bearclaw could tell he had some news to tell them.

"From what I heard..." Flash began eagerly, "...cats eat like this every night in BoulderClan. I can't wait to see its famous wall with my own eyes."

"I agree. It is such an amazing sight," Irontail sighed with wistful thinking.

Flash looked over at him, curiosity in his amber eyes. "So you've been there before?"

Irontail nodded sadly. "Once...when I was a different cat." He looked away from the other cats with regret, not wanting to say anymore.

"In the past, I've done things I'm not proud of," Flash meowed, glancing around. "But that's why we're going to BoulderClan. We want a fresh sinless start. A second chance."

"You are a noble cat to believe that. I believe a cat could change their lives around if they wish. I believe in second chances," Irontail agreed. When he said this, he gave Bearclaw a meaningful look.

Flash didn't reply, but he studied them with a watchful eye. His whiskers were twitching in the low breeze, and his amber eyes were narrowed with interest.

**...**

The next morning, all eight cats and Tobias were up and ready to leave. Goldwing was steadily leading the pack through the next area of the Pass with Silverheart beside him. He knew she was speaking the truth about him hiding his feelings, but he couldn't face the truth. Hope wasn't going to help them find Archie or get to BoulderClan in one piece. For right now, they had to trust their own selves and in StarClan to move forward.

The group stopped as the path abruptly dropped off into the lake, vanishing then resurfacing many rabbit-leaps distant. Goldwing just sat there, confused about what to do. Everyone stood stunned until Silverheart strode forward, looking resolute.

"Everyone line up single-file," she commanded, sounding like a deputy heading into battle.

The other cats and Tobias obeyed as they stepped back and got into a straight line. Bending aside the water in her path, Silverheart descended down below the water level, lifting up walls of water to either side. As everyone fell in behind her, a capsule of air formed around them.

The silver warrior looked over her shoulder to meow, "Goldwing, I need help here."

Smiling distantly, Goldwing took his staff from his back and handed it to Nightpaw. Then he ran over next to Silverheart and began WaterBending beside her.

Hermes and his family stared about, amazed, as they travelled under the waves. Tobias, who was perched on Nightpaw's shoulder, saw a school of fish passing by and plunged through the water-wall after them. Echo and Ashfeather turned to see Tobias swimming in pursuit, laughter on their faces. It looked weird for a hawk to swim underwater like this; hawks usually grabbed their prey from above.

Suddenly, a massive black form passed near Tobias, sending him leaping back to Nightpaw to cower, dripping wet on her shoulder. The enormous bulk of the creature passed over the bubble, and it was dimly seen from within. It looked like it had a very long neck that was connected to a larger body.

"What the hell _is_ that?" Silverheart mewed with fear, looking around.

As Rhea and her family huddled in fear, something huge crashed through the walls of the bubble, breaking Silverheart's focus and threatening to drown them all. Reacting fast, Nightpaw Bended a column of rock that pushed everyone to the surface. The black she-cat handed Goldwing's staff back to him just as the others noticed a long spiny dorsal fin circling their sanctuary.

Everyone watched it with growing dread, until the head of a colossal monster exploded from the lake. It was a gigantic gray-&-white plesiosaur with long vicious sharp teeth, a whiskered head distantly like a seahorse's, and a long tongue lashing whip like from its maw. The monster roared deafeningly as it reared back its long neck to menace the pack of cats.

"Okay. NOW I know why it's called the Great White Pass," Ashfeather griped.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing and his friends looked on in horror as the plesiosaur circled around the cats, snarling. Its sharp black eyes were glaring at them, and its fore-flippers were splashing in irritation.

Turning to Echo, Ashfeather told her, "You live near the sea monsters, right? Make that beast leave!"

"Look, I may live near the Liopleurodon, but I'm no expert!" Echo retorted.

"Fox-dung!" But when he saw Tobias, he grabbed him in his forepaws, held him up, and mewed earnestly to the plesiosaur, "Oh, great and almighty sea monster, please accept this humble and delicious offering. Thank you."

Silverheart spat at him with outrage, "You jerkass!"

With a snarl, the plesiosaur lunged at the cats, its sharp teeth glinting in the early sunlight. But just when it got to them, Goldwing swept an arc of wind at its head, punching it backwards. The monster recovered in time to roar defiantly at the young golden tom.

"Everyone, I'll go and distract it. Silverheart, get everyone to safety," he commanded.

At this, Goldwing opened his glider and flew off as the plesiosaur recovered and swam after him. Silverheart began casting a path made of ice across the lake surface, running forward to connect it to the far shore. Urging the others to pass her, the silver she-cat turned around and watched as Goldwing flew from the monster in the distance. She hopped onto the water, formed a platform of ice around her paws, and propelled herself toward the fight.

Goldwing passed her, amazed she was joining the fight, as the enraged plesiosaur swam close behind him. At this moment, Silverheart began freezing ice around the fleeting monster's neck. With a twist of the neck, the plesiosaur burst free, turning back to chase Silverheart in the other direction.

_We can do this! I know we can!_

Meanwhile, on the ice path, Ashfeather slid across the ice to join the other cats on the opposite shore. But when he looked behind him, he saw that one cat did not cross the ice path: Nightpaw.

"Nightpaw! What the hell are you standing there for? It's just ice!" Ashfeather called to her.

The young blind apprentice carefully placed one forepaw on the ice, but she shrank back right away. She looked back up to the gathering pack and called, "I'll stay on my little island to see, thank you very much!"

But as soon as the words left her mouth, the plesiosaur smashed itself behind her with a powerful force. This was enough to make Nightpaw fall back onto the ice, yowling with fright.

"Fine! I'm coming over!" she called. Taking a deep breath, she began inching sideways across the ice span.

EarthBenders weren't used to travelling on ice at all. They were better at travelling on land and rocks more than on ice. Nightpaw was clearly not used to travelling on ice, but she had to. If she had stayed on that little earth island, the plesiosaur would have eaten her.

As Nightpaw continued making her way across the ice, Ashfeather called positively to her, "You can make it! You're doing fine! Follow the sound of my voice!"

Nightpaw glared over at him tartly. "It's hard to ignore!"

"You're almost there!" Ashfeather called.

It indeed looked like she was going to make it, by the way she was sliding slowly across the ice. But to his horror, the plesiosaur's body crashed into the ice, shattering it and making Nightpaw fall into the water, screaming with fright.

Nightpaw splashed around helplessly, yowling, "Help me! I can't swim!"

Ashfeather, scared for his friend's life, remembered hearing himself say the night before what he promised. He promised he wouldn't let anyone he cared for, whether it was a friend or mate, die. Recalling Moonfeather's death, which stung as painfully as icy water, he knew he had to save Nightpaw.

"Hold on, Nightpaw! I'll come for you!" he called.

But right before he got into the water, he saw a flash of red pass him and, before he could yowl in shock, Echo leapt into the water. Amazed, Ashfeather watched the red tabby she-cat swim fiercely to the rescue as Nightpaw slipped beneath the waves. Reaching the place where she disappeared, Echo plunged down and brought her gasping to the surface while resting on her back.

_Thank StarClan, _Ashfeather sighed with relief.

"Ashfeather! You saved me! You're so brave!" Nightpaw purred to Echo, not knowing who she was talking to. Then, to the others' amusement, she licked her on the cheek.

Echo took the moment to mew, "Um...Nightpaw? It's me, Echo."

Nightpaw looked fatally embarrassed, giggling as her cheeks flushed red at this revelation. Then she finally replied, "You can let me drown now."

Meanwhile, back at the battle, the plesiosaur was thrashing its head back and forth, roaring like mad. Cutting closer, Goldwing and Silverheart started circling the monster at tremendous speed, stirring up a strong whirlpool that held it helpless. The spinning monster's long neck cracked like a whip against the cliff-side, and it slinked off into the depths.

Walking up a slope, the other cats cheered as Goldwing passed by, Silverheart dangling by her scruff in his jaws. They had seen the monster of the Great White Pass, and they had defeated it. Goldwing and Silverheart were perhaps the first cats ever to defeat such a large animal like that. And from the sounds of the cats cheering for them, they had done a good job for them indeed.

They were now getting closer.

**...**

Finally, around sunhigh, all eight cats saw the end of the Pass drawing nearer. They padded down the last part of the rise, where several trees and plenty of prey were now found. And up head...was the great wall of BoulderClan.

They were almost there.

"There's the wall!" Ashfeather called excitedly. He was flicking his tail past the rocky barrens to the great wall ahead. "Now it's smooth riding to BoulderClan! Nothing's gonna stop us now!"

Except...

"Mrow!"

Rhea had doubled over, panting with exhaustion. Her jaws were parted in a silent wail of pain.

Ashfeather looked around to meow apprehensively, "What's wrong now? Did someone poke an eye on a thorn?"

Rhea looked up and rasped, "N-No...the kits...they're coming!" And at that, Hermes and Hestia lowered her to the ground, where she began panting hard.

Goldwing, however, couldn't bring himself to find hope or excitement in kitting. He knew they had gotten past the Great White Pass with pure luck, but other than that, hope hadn't helped them so far. So he just padded towards the family of loners, trying to put his emotions behind him.

"What?" Ashfeather squealed with surprise. "The kits are coming now? Can't you...hold 'em in, at least?"

Silverheart laid a comforting paw on her brother's shoulder and piped up, "Calm down, okay? I've helped Rainbreeze and Sleetpelt deliver lots of kits back at our camp."

Ashfeather faced her with an insane look on his face. "It's not the same as helping a polar bear give birth to cubs! We're talking about real...cat..._things_!"

"They're called kits, mouse-brain," Silverheart retorted, rolling her eyes. "And I've helped deliver _lots_ of those too."

With authority rising in her voice, she called, "We'll all work together to help deliver the kits. Goldwing, find some moss on the rocks. Ashfeather, help him find some water. Tobias, find these herbs: juniper berries, lamb's ear, and borage. Nightpaw, make a den out of earth. A BIG one."

Nightpaw created a tent of stone wedges around the loner family. Goldwing and Ashfeather went away to find some moss and water for Rhea. And Tobias had taken off to find some of the herbs Silverheart told him to bring.

"Echo, can you come with me in the tent?" Silverheart asked the Tribe cat.

Echo nodded, and the two she-cats padded into the den. The soft moans of Rhea were enough to make a curious fawn inspect the noise.

**...**

Mist rolled around the ferry as it sailed evenly through the middle of the lake. Bearclaw could barely see a thing; it was like being blind. But he knew one thing from the scents of nearby stuff: they were getting near land. They were getting near the shoreline.

As he sat on the railing, he heard another cat leaping up to join him. Bearclaw turned to see that it was Flash. The tall brown-&-ginger striped rogue had a calm and nostalgic look in his amber eyes.

"I knew who you were as soon as I saw that scar," Flash began.

Bearclaw flinched. Did Flash know his true identity?

But Flash continued, "Like me, you're an outcast. A rogue. And we rogues have to watch out for each other. We need to help each other out in the end, because no one else will."

Bearclaw nodded, taking this all in. "I know," he meowed grimly. "I've learned a lesson about it recently. Being alone isn't always the right way to find your future."

He already was receiving help from his uncle Irontail, but he was also thankful for Flash helping him out. In fact, he had learned from some sides of the world that the other Clans were suffering from FireClan's rule. But he was also thankful that he was a rogue now; he and Irontail would be killed like a pig raised for slaughter. Like Flash, he wondered what life would be like starting new in BoulderClan.

To him...he would have to wait.

And right now, he could see the walls of BoulderClan through the mist.

**...**

Silverheart quickly passed another long bamboo stick to Rhea. The brown tabby-&-white queen was already having contractions and lying on her side, panting heavily while Hermes and Hestia tried to comfort her. Echo was calmly handing Silverheart some herbs while Ashfeather watched from the side, looking nauseous.

Nightpaw was sitting outside the entrance, guarding the cats from anything that would make its way into the tent. Silverheart purred inwardly at this; she had trained her apprentice well. As for Goldwing, he had went hunting for a little bit, not saying when he would be back. Taking one look at Tobias, who was with Nightpaw at the entrance, she turned back to Rhea.

"You're doing well, Rhea," Silverheart purred. Over her shoulder, she yowled, "Ashfeather, did you fetch the moss and water yet?"

Ashfeather replied by pushing the water-soaked water nervously forwards. Silverheart gratefully took it from him and gave it to Rhea, who lapped weakly at the cool fresh liquid.

To Rhea, she meowed, "On the count of three, get ready to push. One...two...three. Push!"

As soon as she heard it, Rhea began straining hard, her body shuddering as she tried to push one kit out at a time. Silverheart felt the queen's swollen belly to see how many kits were inside her. There seemed to be three.

While Rhea let out wails of pain as she pushed, Ashfeather padded over to the side and mewed, "Looks like she's blowing a bubble."

"That's no bubble! That's one of the kits' heads!" Silverheart corrected him.

This made Ashfeather slump over and faint.

**...**

**(Author's Note: This little scene I'm fixing to show is made by me. Hope you like it.)**

_So you're leaving in the morning, on the early train._

_I could say everything's all right._

_And I could pretend and say good-bye,_

_But that would be lying._

The starling wasn't paying attention as Goldwing crept forwards, quiet as a snake in the grass. He was careful to lift his tail off the ground and made sure no leaves were littered over the ground. Goldwing lifted one paw after the other as he crept closer, his belly just kit-steps off the ground. A few more starlings had gathered beside the first to scour the ground for food.

Goldwing felt he had to be back at the camp where Rhea was having her kits. But he already did his part for now, and Silverheart could handle the rest from there. Besides, Ashfeather, Echo, and Nightpaw could help her out without him.

"Is that what you think?"

The sudden meow made Goldwing look up quickly, causing the starlings to squawk and take flight. Goldwing looked back at the starlings, glaring angrily as he watched them escape. He whirled around on the spot to glare at the one who interrupted him.

Sitting on a boulder before him was a tomcat he had never seen before. He was a large tom with thick solid gray fur, a thick tail, sturdy shoulders, and yellow eyes. He had a darker gray stripe running from his head to his tail, just like Goldwing's arrow stripe. And he had a broad face and a broad head to boot. Lastly, he had stars glittering in his eyes and fur.

_He must be a StarClan cat._

"Who are you?" Goldwing asked him.

The gray tom replied, "Why ask me? What about you?"

Goldwing was taken aback by this cat's cheerful attitude. Wasn't he aware of the calm aloofness in his mind?

"What're you doing out here?" the tom meowed, tilting his head to one side. "Shouldn't you be back at camp?"

"What am I doing out here?" the golden tom repeated as if struck by a wing. "I'm hunting, that's what I'm doing."

The gray tom looked unconvinced. "Are you sure? You're still hiding your feelings."

Goldwing lied, "No I'm not."

"Yes you are. Don't lie to a StarClan cat."

Seeing there was no way of lying to this cat, Goldwing replied, "I'm sorry. It's just...since Archie was stolen and...I felt we should look for him later."

The gray tom asked him cheekily, "You just don't care, right?"

"What?" The fur on Goldwing's back rose as he heard this. "Of course I care about my dragon! How dare you accuse me of not caring!"

"You're certainly acting like it." the tom finished, lifting up a forepaw and licking it.

Then...he snapped.

Goldwing launched himself at the gray tom, claws unsheathed and teeth bared. But the StarClan cat dodged him easily and knocked him to the ground with a quick shove to the shoulder. When Goldwing was down on the ground, the gray tom started bashing his belly with his back paws, keeping his claws sheathed.

Finally, the gray tom leapt off of him, uninjured from the scuffle. Goldwing wasn't injured either, but he was shaken by the StarClan cat's power. The gray tom now looked down in discontent at him.

"You need to loosen up," the gray cat told him. "If you don't...you won't know what you're missing then."

At this, he disappeared in a swirl of stars.

Goldwing got wearily up on his paws, still feeling depressed about what the cat told him. But he felt that the gray cat was wrong; there was nothing wrong with hiding his feelings. Ignoring the aching in his legs, he limped slowly back to camp.

When he got there, Tobias was resting in a sycamore tree, resting peacefully. Ashfeather was at the entrance of the camp, looking from left to right as if they were attacked right away. And last but not least, Nightpaw was also sitting at the entrance, looking calmer than Ashfeather, but she did give him a weird look. After mewing a low greeting to the two cats, Goldwing padded away from them and sat under the sycamore tree, feeling hopeless.

Suddenly, Silverheart's soft meow rang out: "You've done it, Rhea! Two she-cats and a tom!"

"So Ashfeather," Nightpaw meowed, taking a look at his face, "are you gonna faint like an elder again? Or do you want to see the little fluff-balls?"

"I'm okay," Ashfeather replied, getting up and stretching. "Seriously, I am."

The two cats got up together and padded inside the tent together, Tobias taking flight from his branch and following them inside. Goldwing looked after them, not feeling in the mood to see any kits at the moment. If only Archie was here...then things would be easier.

"Goldwing." The golden Avatar Cat turned to see Silverheart poking her head out of the tent. "You've got to see this. It's amazing!"

As she ducked her head back into the makeshift nursery, Goldwing got up and walked sullenly over to the tent. He rose his head high, preparing himself to see this sight, and padded inside the tent. What he saw next melted his heart.

The family of loners was in the center of the tent, Hermes and Hestia proudly giving Rhea happy licks. Rhea herself looked tired yet happy as she laid in a nest of grass and flowers, her belly no longer swollen. Finally, there were three bundles of fluff nursing at her belly. One of the kits was black-&-white like its father, the second was a golden tabby like Goldenstripe, and the third kit was gray.

While the kits made high mewling sounds as they suckled, Nightpaw purred, "The little rascals sound healthy if you ask me."

"I agree," Silverheart crooned, gazing down at the kits with joy. With admiration, she added, "And they're beautiful."

Hesitantly, Ashfeather piped up, "They look like...rainbow peaches if you ask ME."

Seeing this new family with their new kits made Goldwing smile a touching smile. Beside him, he could see the long-furred gray tom he had fought with earlier appearing by his side. His amber eyes were filled with joy and pride as the kits squirmed to get comfortable before vanishing into this air. Goldwing gazed at the kits, and Rhea nodded to him, allowing him to see her newborn kittens.

"Should we name the black-&-white kit Fox?" Hermes asked his mate. "After the arctic fox."

While Rhea nodded, Hestia spoke for the first time, "And the gray kit can be Mist."

"Beautiful," Rhea murmured, licking up the two newly-named kits. Glancing down at her middle kit, she mewed, "But I want to name our golden tabby daughter here. I want to name her a one of a kind name. Her name should mean something."

Suddenly, all emotion spread across Goldwing's face as he smiled happily at the new kits. Now he realized what Silverheart and the gray tom were talking about: not lose hope and loosen up in their darkest hour. Days of feeling upset were now becoming a thing in the past, and his heart felt like it was being repaired at last. Tears of joy were streaming down his face, and he wiped them away with a forepaw.

So he stepped forward and meowed softly, his voice shaking with joy, "I've been through a hard time lately. When I lost Archie, I was afraid I would never be happy again. But now...thanks to your new kits...you helped me find hope again. Thank you."

Rhea looked up at him and nodded with approval. Then she turned to her mate and purred, "Then that shall be her name: Hope."

"Yes," Hermes agreed, licking her ears happily. "Fox, Mist...and Hope."

'_Cause I can't stop loving you._

_No, I can't stop loving you._

_No, I won't stop loving you._

_Why should I even try?_

Rhea leaned down to her kits and began licking them carefully and lovingly again. Fox and Mist didn't move, for they continued suckling, but Hope raised her tiny head as if to look up at her mother. After hearing Rhea purring, the golden tabby kit latched back onto the teat she had been nursing on and went on with suckling.

Goldwing decided to let them have their family moment together, so he dipped his head towards the family, congratulating them on the kits before leaving the tent. Once outside, he sat under the tree that Tobias was resting under. But he smelt a familiar scent, one he found some time ago.

"Good job," the gray cat purred as he appeared in the branches above him. "StarClan is proud of you. You were running away from your feelings. But seeing that family together with happiness and love...that's what you feel about Archie. And that's how you also feel about Silverheart," he added, nostalgia in his yellow eyes.

Goldwing nodded. "Thank you. And who are you?"

The gray tom purred. "Who am I? I'm Graystripe. Nice to meet you!"

And in another swirl of stars, Graystripe had vanished.

Through his happy tears, Goldwing turned back to see Silverheart padding up to him. She sat down before him and gazed at him in concern.

Finally, Goldwing found the courage to say what Graystripe just told him: "I thought I was being strong by holding back my emotions. But all this time, I was just fleeing from my feelings. But seeing that new family and their kits, full of joy and love...it reminded me about how I feel about Archie." And blushing, he added, "...and that's how I also feel about you, Silverheart."

'_Cause I can't stop loving you._

_No I can't stop loving you._

_No I won't stop loving you._

_Why should I?_

Silverheart gaped at him with surprise, but it was replaced by a smile as she wiped a tear from her face. When Goldwing finished his speech, the two cats stepped to each other and locked each other into a loving hug, tears of joy streaming from her closed eyes while they purred. Goldwing never felt happier than ever; thanks to the new family and his love for Silverheart, the Avatar Cat felt like he could go on.

The two cats separated from each other as they looked into each other's eyes. Behind them, Echo, Nightpaw, and Ashfeather were padding out of the nursery to see if they were all right. Goldwing looked over to the giant wall of BoulderClan, now happy in going to search for his missing Asian Lung dragon.

Knowing this, Silverheart licked his shoulder and purred, "So you're going to find Archie?"

"Yes," Goldwing replied, licking her on the cheek gratefully. "I'll find Archie as soon as I can. I just gotta do this. I'll let you know when I find him."

Ashfeather nodded with a smile. "See you in the big city, buddy."

Echo had no words for him, but she dipped her head to Goldwing in respect.

Nightpaw warmly cuffed him on the ear before giving him his staff. "Say hi to the big ol' furball for me."

"I know you'll find him." Silverheart's soft mew made Goldwing turn to her. "I know you will."

"I know. Thank you," he purred. To the others, he meowed, "And thank you, everyone."

As Goldwing snapped open his glider and prepared for takeoff, Tobias walked next to him and spread his wings out in imitation. The four other cats stepped back a few paces to give them some good takeoff space.

Goldwing turned to his hawk. "You ready?"

Tobias chirped in reply.

They both crouched low, and then they hurtled into the sky as everyone waved their temporary farewells to them. Looking back over his shoulder, Goldwing called his farewell while Tobias let out a hawk-like cry in reply to the farewell.

Goldwing had never felt happier than ever before.

**...**

With a sad sigh, Ashfeather looked over to where Goldwing and Tobias flew off. It would take only a few hours or so, but this farewell felt hard for him. The golden AirClan warrior had been his friend ever since Silverheart freed him from the White Stone. He hoped he and Tobias would hurry and find Archie.

Sounds of pawsteps told the dark gray tabby that Echo was padding up to him with the scent of borage on her pelt. It looked like she had given Rhea some borage leaves to help her milk come and to feed her kits. Ashfeather wondered what was up with the red tabby island guard.

'_Cause I can't stop loving you._

_No I can't stop loving you._

_No I won't stop loving you._

_Why should I?_

"Ashfeather, it was good seeing you again," Echo purred as she sat down next to him.

"What? Hold it." Ashfeather got to his paws, staring at her with surprise. "Are you saying good-bye? Already?"

Echo also stood up. "It's only temporary. I just wanted to make sure you and your friends got through the Great White Pass alive. But now I need to go to get back with my Tribemates," she added, flicking her tail at the lake.

Ashfeather was stunned. "So you were just protecting _me_?"

"Listen," Echo went on, blushing even if she didn't hear him, "I'm sorry for what happened last night." She looked sideways and closed her eyes as she went on, "We were just talking and doing other shit, and...I got carried away. And before I knew it, I was-"

But she couldn't finish. Ashfeather had stepped forward and rubbed his face to hers. It was to show her to quiet down and pay attention to what he was doing now.

When Echo opened her eyes to stare at him with awe, he added while gazing into her eyes, "You talk too much, you know that?"

The red tabby she-cat purred with joy, and before they knew it, the two cats were now locked in an embrace, rubbing their faces close together. Ashfeather felt happy after what had happened; he realized that maybe Moonfeather wanted him to move on. If the white she-cat could see them now, she would accept this as they became mates.

While they kept this up, they could just imagine Moonfeather watching them from above with approval.

_Why should I?_

_Why should I?_

_Why should I even try?_

**...**

Goldwing looked down at the ground as he and Tobias flew over a desert towards the outer wall, nearly disappearing into the distance. This desert looked quite unlike the desert of death; it had a few plants and trees dotted here and there. As for the city, they had finally reached it.

Both cat and hawk soared up the erect face of the wall, giving them a look of the wall's awesome height as they passed through low clouds. Finally reaching the wall's summit, they performed a backwards loop and glided in for a landing. Goldwing, with Tobias on his shoulder, looked out peacefully over the wall.

But, turning to look back, Goldwing saw something that made his brief joy be replaced by shock and horror.

Over the horizon where the late afternoon sun was hanging, a large machine was slowly charging towards the city. Beside it were two FireClan ships travelling alongside it as if they knew where they were going. They were dwarfed by the giant machine, whose long pointy end was spinning around and around.

Turning to Tobias, Goldwing muttered, "Sorry, Tobias. But Archie will have to wait."

_To be continued..._

**...**

**Aang: (Wipes a tear from his eyes) Seeing the baby Hope back in our journey...and seeing those kits...those parts always make me happy. It makes me think of how much I care for Appa and Katara.**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah...I always give a smile at that part. (Turns to Katara) And you did well with helping Hope's mom with the baby.**

**Katara: (Smiles at him) Thanks.**

**AvatarCat12: No problem. I have a way for making compliments. But I'll go ahead and say the review and preview for The Battle Drill. (To the readers) Read and review, everyone! Anyone who does will get virtual plush dolls of kits. And since it's Mother's Day, a mom who reviews will get a plush doll of a mother penguin and her chick. Flames aren't allowed, but advice and constructive criticism are.**

**Preview: The search for Archie has to wait, for Goldwing and his small pack come across a machine made by FireClan. Can they disable the machine before the machine breaks down the wall of BoulderClan? Meanwhile, Bearclaw is asked by Flash if he could join the Freedom Fighters. But will he take the chance?**

**All three: Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and moms-to-be out there! **


	14. The Battle Drill

**AvatarCat12:I'm sorry if I haven't been updating lately. I've just been playing a lot of World of Warcraft lately.**

**Katara: Isn't it that online roleplaying game where millions gather every day?**

**Aang: I've heard about that! And I've heard it's fun! Besides the violence on there. (To Katara) Hey Katara, you think we should try it out sometime?**

**Katara: ...I guess we can. Besides, some ice attacks on there looked like WaterBending.**

**AvatarCat12: Glad to hear that, you two. Now let's get this chapter done.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither series. I'm blending them together for others' enjoyment.**

**Summary: The search for Archie has to wait, for Goldwing and his small pack come across a machine made by FireClan. Can they disable the machine before the machine breaks down the wall of BoulderClan? Meanwhile, Bearclaw is asked by Flash if he could join the Freedom Fighters. But will he take the chance?**

**Uploading Date: May 21, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_The Battle Drill_

A group of FireClan tanks rumbled across the barrens, escorting a gigantic vehicle. When a bird would back away, it would look at a titanic tunneling machine, ten stories high and stretching out a great distance. The tanks flanking it appeared as little more than minor toys by contrast. There were large parts of the drill's body pushing forward under steam power, punching steam driven spikes into the ground, and then contracting again to gain forward movement.

It was a great Drill, a vast black iron cylinder creeping forward like a caterpillar, the tanks beside it ant-like. There was a tower topped by a command center levering upward from the drill's back. And inside the watch tower, Frostfire was plotting with her friends Rose and Aya beside her.

"Frostfire." The black she-cat looked up from her forepaws to see the pale brown war minister, Logtail, stepping forward to address his deputy. "This drill is a feat of scientific skill and raw destructive power. Once it digs through the wall, our troops will storm their city. EarthClan will finally fall, and you can claim BoulderClan in the name of your father. Nothing can stop us."

"Hmm..." Aya muttered. She was looking through a periscope before looking back. "How about those tough guys way over there?"

Frostfire stalked over to where Aya was looking out at. Then she saw what the white she-cat was looking at. EarthClan cats were dropping down into a few trenches, their teeth bared and their fur ruffled at this uneasy fight. They were sending up pointed stones, one after another, in order to quickly brace themselves against FireClan.

_No matter. They will meet their end soon, _Frostfire sneered to herself, letting Aya look through the periscope.

"Oh please," Logtail scoffed, tapping the periscope hard with his paw and startling Aya. "This drill's metal shell is resistant against any EarthBending attack."

"Oh, I'm sure it is, Logtail. But better safe than sorry," Frostfire purred. In a commanding voice, she called, "Rose! Aya! Take those EarthClan cats out!"

Aya looked excited while Rose rolled her amber eyes. "Finally...something to do," she muttered.

**...**

Goldwing flew above the desert badlands with Tobias by his side. He was happy he could find hope in finding Archie again, but that would have to wait. For right now, he had to worry about the machine charging towards BoulderClan. It was quickly snaking its way towards the city as quickly as a cheetah.

But something caught his eye: six figures on the ground. When he swooped down lower, he saw that it was his friends and the family of loners. They had been huddled near a rocky pass toward the base of the great wall. As they paused, Goldwing and Tobias swooped into view from the direction of the wall. Goldwing landed with all four paws on the ground while Tobias landed on his shoulders.

"Hey, Goldwing," Silverheart greeted him, pulling him into an embrace. When they pulled apart, she asked him, "What're you doing here? I thought you went to find Archie?"

"I was," Goldwing told her. "But something stopped me along the way. It's something big."

Turning away and flicking his tail towards his friends, he padded away towards the wall. Then when Goldwing stopped by the wall, he and Nightpaw started to equally EarthBend a big pillar platform up the face of the wall, lifting them all upwards. Beside them, the family of loners was staring around them in awe, the kits mewling and dangling from their jaws.

As the platform kept going up, Ashfeather looked at Goldwing with suspicion. "So what's so big that Archie will have to wait?"

Goldwing flicked his tail to the moving machine. "That."

Around him, he could hear gasps from the other cats when they saw the machine. If that wasn't enough for the others to be scared, smaller FireClan machines were flanking the giant machine on both sides. But they had reached the top of the wall, where Goldwing and his pack helped the loner family get on board.

The kits were already mewling, though they had no idea what was going on. Rhea laid down beside the wall and let her kits be laid down beside her to nurse.

"We made it to BoulderClan, but we're still not safe!" Rhea mewed despairingly. "No one is." She closed her eyes tight while her family padded over to comfort her and the kits.

"What are you cats doing up here! No one is allowed up on the walls unless it's important!"

Goldwing and his pack turned to see a scrawny creamy-brown tom looking over at them. He seemed to be irritated that someone had come onto the wall.

Knowing what to say, Goldwing took a step forward. "Sir, I'm the Avatar Cat. Take me to who is in charge here."

The warrior nodded and padded away with the other cats behind him. After some walking, they arrived at an area atop the outer wall, where a roof was supported by archways. An EarthClan senior warrior was waiting, seated at a desk. This cat was a brown-gray tabby warrior with dull yellow eyes and a missing ear.

Goldwing was reminded of Birchbark, the EarthClan warrior who had tried to force him into the Avatar Cat State. At first, he was about to turn away and run away, but he told himself he was being silly. This wasn't the same insane cat he had met just a moon ago. Besides, this cat looked grayer while Birchbark looked browner; plus, Birchbark was a tabby while this cat wasn't.

"My name is Barkfur. And it's an honor to have you here, Avatar Cat," the warrior meowed, smiling. "But I'm afraid your help is not needed."

Surprised, Goldwing repeated, "Not needed?"

Smiling haughtily, Barkfur repeated, "Not needed. My warriors and I have this under control. I assure you FireClan won't even penetrate these walls. Many armies have tried to break through before, but none have succeeded."

The EarthClan warrior leaped off of the desk as he spoke, leading the group back out towards an open area of the wall manned by warriors standing near large stacks of rocks. They were shown an aerial view of the outer wall. Nothing lied beyond the outer face but barren wastelands while a patchwork of fertile fields grew behind it.

Goldwing had to admit that Barkfur was in denial by the way he smiled contentedly out over the inward face of the wall. The other three cats behind Barkfur exchanged looks before Nightpaw stepped forward.

"What about the Griffin Of The West?" she meowed, her blind eyes narrowed. "_He_ got in."

"Well..." Birchbark meowed, looking stunned. "...technically, yes. But he was swiftly removed." More confidently, he meowed, "Yet, that is why the city is BoulderClan. It's the solid city. They don't call it MossClan." He gave a belly laugh before becoming serious. "That's the penetrable city."

Nightpaw yawned. "Thanks for the tourist attraction and all, but there's still the machine."

Pacing back to look out over the wastelands, Barkfur replied, "Not for long. We have a way to stop it. I've sent over an exclusive team of EarthBenders called the Terra Team."

"Terra Team?" Ashfeather mewed wistfully. "I like the name there. Very catchy."

But something out at the horizon caught Goldwing's attention. He flicked his tail to the other cats to be silent and watch. The four other cats stayed silent and watched on with worried looks.

They watched on as the Terra Team launched their assault on the FireClan military tanks. They propelled one of the tanks into the air, catching it in the middle and causing oil to bleed from beneath it. After that, they rode a surge of earth through the gap left in the tank's formation.

"Attack!" the Terra Team leader, a dark tabby, roared.

The EarthBenders tried to wedge several large pillars of stone against the side of the machine, but it shattered them effortlessly. The Terra Team barely managed to raise a defensive shield against a barrage of Rose's throwing knives. Rose and Aya were now sliding down the side of the machine toward them. Nimbly avoiding their EarthBending attacks, Aya leaped in among them and began sending a flood of pressure-point attacks. One by one, the Terra Team dropped weakly at her paws.

However, the leader got back up to his paws and leapt at Aya, swiping his claws at her. But the white she-cat dodged the blow and retaliated by jabbing him in the chest with a quick paw stab. When the leader got up to strike back, Rose hurled a knife at him, which imbedded itself into his chest. The leader let out a screech of pain and anger before falling lifeless into a puddle of blood. A few more warriors got back up and charged towards the she-cats, but they met the same fate their leader met.

"We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you!" Barkfur wailed, looking away from the telescope. Now flailing his paws in the air, he cried, "Oh StarClan, we're doomed! Doomed!"

Right away, Ashfeather padded up to the brown tom and smacked him across the face with his paw. "Get a hold of yourself, scaredy-ass!"

Goldwing blinked at the dark gray tabby tom, mildly surprised. Ashfeather had never struck a cat across the face to pull them together.

Barkfur, however, seemed to recover from the shock of being slapped across the face. He looked at him, rubbing his stricken cheek with his forepaw, and mumbled, "You're right. My apologies."

"So I guess you'll need the Avatar Cat's help now, _right_?" Nightpaw meowed.

"Yes please," the EarthClan warrior replied, crawling towards Goldwing timidly and bowing low to him.

The golden Avatar Cat dipped his head to him in respect before looking back out at the plains. The machine was still making its way slowly towards the walled city like a turtle going to the beach to lay its eggs. If they didn't stop it soon, then the wall would truly be torn down to the ground by FireClan.

"Now how do we stop that machine?" he meowed. At this, everyone looked over at Ashfeather.

The WaterClan warrior looked surprised as he asked them, "Why're you all looking at me?"

Goldwing reminded him, "You're the idea cat."

"And I'm the only one not to come up with a plan?" Ashfeather complained. "Do any of you have any idea how much pressure that is?"

"Let's not forget you're the whining cat," Silverheart purred teasingly.

Ashfeather looked down at his paws. "I don't mind that, but...never mind."

**...**

It felt good to be on dry land once again, Bearclaw was thinking as he stretched his forepaws out. It had taken a while for them to land thanks to the many other ferries going into the harbor. But it was worth it; they would be away from angry EarthClan cats or proud FireClan cats. Bearclaw's honor was taken for a bit, but he hoped he would regain it soon.

Bearclaw watched as Irontail padded towards the customs table, papers dangling from his jaws. He approached an EarthClan official, a sour-looking plump black-&-gray she-cat with a big ugly mole on her nose. When Irontail placed the papers on the pedestal, she glared down at them very dubiously.

**(Author's Note: You know the cat Lucifer from the 1950s Disney movie Cinderella? Well, imagine this cat looking like Lucifer. And the upcoming reference will also be from the show TUFF Puppy.)**

"So," she muttered, sounding unpleasant. "Your names are Moss and...Warhog?"

"It's pronounced 'wart-hog,'" Irontail corrected her.

The black-&-gray she-cat glared at him. "Are you telling me how to do my job?"

Irontail shook his head, stepped closer, and replied, "No, I wasn't." Then, with the charm of a younger tom, he had a smile on his flat face as he purred, "But I must say...you are like a jade flower in bloom, your beauty enchanting."

Bearclaw felt surprised and disgusted at what his gray tabby uncle was doing. Irontail had flirted with some elderly she-cats and even a young female rogue named April. But since he was flirting with an ugly old cat like her, he was afraid this plan would fail.

However, the black-&-gray she-cat looked charmed, for she was smiling as she purred, "Well, you're not bad in the charms yourself, handsome. Rowr!" she added, waggling her tail towards Irontail. "Anyways, welcome to BoulderClan. Enjoy your stay."

While she started stamping out the papers, Bearclaw felt himself start to retch. That looked quite disgusting for a cat that old; he himself wouldn't mind if he was seduced by a younger she-cat. But he wasn't looking for a mate, for he really wasn't one to be engrossed in romance. So when Irontail padded forwards to pick the papers up, Bearclaw leaped forward and took them.

"When we get inside, I'll bleach my eyes. I'll forget I ever saw that," the dark brown tabby tom muttered.

Irontail didn't protest, but he did give his nephew a wary glance. He nodded a farewell to the black-&-gray she-cat before following Bearclaw towards the ticket gates. But he wasn't alone in going into the city.

From a few fox-lengths away, he could hear Flash talking to Hornet and Spearhead. Bearclaw swiveled his ears around to hear what the rogue was talking about.

"You know, Moss will make a good Freedom Fighter," Flash was meowing. "Like us, he's just trying to find his place in the world."

Hornet gave him a confused glance. "But Comrade Flash, you don't know anything about him."

Reaching into his bag, Flash fished out a weed stalk and popped it into his mouth. He meowed to Hornet, "I know he didn't get that scar from falling down from a cliff."

"Besides..." Hornet meowed on, ignoring what she was just told, "...weren't we gonna go straight now?"

"Yeah," the brown-&-ginger striped tom replied. "But the Freedom Fighters could use a cat like Moss. I mean, he has the skills of feeding his comrades before himself, as the Warrior Code of the Clans say you gotta feed others before yourself. What do you think, Spearhead?" he asked the pale tabby tom.

Spearhead didn't say anything. Instead, he fixed his leader with a pale gray meaningful stare.

Flash nodded back. "Don't worry, Comrade Spearhead. I understand."

Bearclaw turned away from the Freedom Fighters and followed his uncle back to the ticket gate. He tried to ignore what Flash meowed about him joining the Freedom Fighters, for he didn't want to join any pack. He and Irontail were rogues; rogues would either stay alone or with an ally or two.

So, ignoring Flash's amber eyes fixed on him, Bearclaw padded after his uncle, swatting his tail at an annoying fly buzzing in his ear.

**...**

As Goldwing and his pack waited on the wall, they saw something on the horizon. A closer look through the telescope told the Avatar Cat that it was indeed a cat limping. His left hind leg was bent at an odd angle, and there was a creaking sound every time he walked. Several other cats ran out to the plains to escort him back to the medicine den.

When the cat came nearer, it was revealed that he was a dark ginger tom with a missing ear and a missing green eye. A dark tortoiseshell tabby she-cat escorted him to the nearest nest, where he collapsed into it with gratitude. Quickly, Silverheart got him some water-soaked moss, and the dark ginger tom lapped it up. Beside him, his Clanmates were being healed in their other nests.

Barkfur, Goldwing's pack, and Tobias watched as Silverheart got to work. The silver she-cat spread the blue energies of her healing technique over the shoulder of the fallen EarthClan cat. Goldwing could see the dark ginger tom's remaining eye close tight at the thought of pain. But knowing Silverheart, it wouldn't hurt one bit.

"What's wrong with him? He doesn't look injured," Barkfur mewled. "No fresh claw marks...and no blood."

"His Chi's blocked," Silverheart replied. She dissipated the blue energy before turning to the dark ginger warrior. "Who did this to you?"

The dark ginger tom looked weakly up at her. He tried to speak, but he began coughing up blood. Barkfur leaned down towards the injured cat and urged him, "Tell us, Rowanfall! Who was the cat who injured you?"

Rowanfall coughed again before finally moaning, "Two she-cats, just two, ambushed us. One of the she-cats, a white cat with gray patches and black head fur, hit me with a bunch of these damn quick jabs, and suddenly I couldn't EarthBend at all. I could barely move... And then she started doing some cartwheeling trick as she got away from us." After that, he sighed as he laid his head back down on the pillow, unconscious.

Goldwing saw Silverheart's dark blue eyes widen with realization. He remembered her telling him about the she-cat who had nearly killed her at MudClan. There were no surprises that she had accompanied FireClan over to BoulderClan.

Meanwhile, Silverheart looked away pensively and meowed to Rowanfall, "The white she-cat is named Aya. She doesn't look dangerous on the outside, but she knows the anatomy of a cat's body well. And she knows where a cat's weak points are. She's kinda like a tapeworm: taking you down from the inside."

_That sounds scary, _Goldwing thought, flinching at what his crush meowed. He could imagine being struck at certain pressure points in his body and making him succumb to the damage. But he was glad she didn't have anything against him. The only thing Goldwing had against was FireClan and their leader.

"Ooh! Ooh! I have an idea!" Ashfeather was calling, jumping up and down like a kit. Goldwing and Nightpaw chuckled at that gesture.

"Yes?" Silverheart asked her littermate. Unlike Goldwing and Nightpaw, she didn't really share their amusement.

The dark gray tabby warrior settled down before quickly meowing excitedly, "Remember what you just said? Her being a tapeworm in taking someone down from the inside? Well, that's what we're gonna do to the drill! It's the same way Aya took down all of those EarthBenders!"

"Of course!" Nightpaw added in eagerly. "We have to hit all the pressure points!"

Goldwing looked out the window at the machine and concluded, "Then we're taking it out from the inside."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

As Goldwing and his pack raced out to the battle machine, the Avatar Cat looked up to see what the machine was. It was a drill, large and long like a whale, and it was even flanked by FireClan tanks, which looked like fleas compared to the machine. There was a swirling part at the front of the machine, with the pointy end aiming right for the wall of BoulderClan.

Goldwing and his pack dove down to where the Terra Team had camped before. A metallic scent of blood reached their noses and made Goldwing almost retch, but he tried to focus. He couldn't afford to back out when FireClan was threatening BoulderClan.

Nightpaw flicked her right ear towards the older warriors and mewed, "Once I make some cover over there, you won't be able to see me. So stay close to me, and don't sniff out anything else."

"Got it," Silverheart mewed.

Leaping up from the trench, Nightpaw began a diligent EarthBending gesture that ended with a powerful paw stomp. This summoned up a mighty blast of dust and broken stone rocketing along the ground toward the drill. But the drill didn't seem to stop at the moment, for it let out a groan as it trudged towards the city wall.

"Run!" Nightpaw called. "Into the dust cloud!"

Racing right behind the small black cat, the older warriors followed her into the dust cloud. They wasted no time in sniffing out the machine; it had a distinct smell that a mix between flames and metal. It was indeed as wide as a whale and as tall as a Brachiosaurus. Dust and sand billowed up and blew into the faces of the cats, but they lowered their heads and dashed through.

Little did they know that they were being watched...

**(Author's Note: What's gonna come up will be like last episode. Characters will keep switching around back and forth. Just bear with me.)**

"Hey, look at that dust cloud!" Aya's mew made Frostfire look up from blueprints to see the white she-cat looking through the periscope to a dust cloud. "It's so...poofy." She turned to the other cats with a dreamy look on her face and mewed, "Poof!"

Frostfire raised an eyebrow at her. Sometimes, her friend could be such a cuckoo when it came to this kind of stuff. It was like when they had found the fur of the Avatar Cat's dragon's fur; at that, Aya had started talking about clumps.

Logtail meowed with confidence, "Don't worry, faithful deputy. I'm sure it's just nothing."

But Frostfire gave him a doubtful look. She highly doubted that it was nothing. It had to be more than just nothing.

**...**

Goldwing and his friends halted where they had run to as they looked up. The drill looked even bigger than it did when they looked at it from the wall of BoulderClan. The four cats had been running within the thick dust to emerge near the front of the drill. Standing in the drill's shadow, Nightpaw Bended open a pit in the ground.

"Everyone! Into the hole!" the black she-cat ordered.

The older warriors obeyed her as they followed her into the hole. When Ashfeather landed right next to Goldwing, Nightpaw flicked her tail towards the surface, and a rumbling made Goldwing look up. Sand was covering the hole at the surface, perfectly hiding them. Pawsteps ahead of them made the cats follow her down the tunnel Nightpaw was making.

Goldwing felt a little constricted as the four cats travelled down the tunnel. Ashfeather was making little stumbling sounds and he was letting out growls of annoyance.

"Damn, this tunnel's so dark!" the dark gray tabby warrior growled. "I can't see a thing!"

"Oh no! What a nightmare!" Nightpaw retorted with mock horror.

Ashfeather muttered something before adding, "Sorry."

Soon, after a few minutes, Goldwing could no longer hear digging sounds up ahead of him. Then he heard digging sounds, but from the way he could sense the earth around him now, he realized this digging was from above. Nightpaw seemed to have found the belly of the drill, for she had looked up and started clawing her way to the surface. The cats nodded to each other in the dark (though they couldn't see each other) and followed the apprentice.

Pale sunlight lit the tunnels as Ashfeather leaped out of the tunnel, but the sunlight was altered by something big. Towering above them was the drill. They stood underneath the Drill itself, a vast gloomy region framed by long rows of tracked wheels, with the Drill's body as its ceiling.

Goldwing had never been close to anything this huge before, not even a building. This thing was around eight times as huge as Archie, if not even more. In fact, it looked like it could fit several dragons in there, like around six or a little bit more.

"Look up there!" Ashfeather meowed, looking up at the drill. The other three cats did the same thing.

They could see an opening in the Drill's belly, with a narrow length of pipe extending out of it horizontally. Goldwing leaped up to catch it and hung upside down from it by wrapping his forelegs around the pipe. Silverheart leaped up and Goldwing grabbed her scruff, pulling her up until she got inside. Ashfeather did the same thing, thus boosting them up into the Drill.

There was a pause and Goldwing looked down. Nightpaw was not following.

Ashfeather called to her from the opening, "Nightpaw, what're you waiting for? Come on!"

"No way in Hell am I getting into that metal death trap!" Nightpaw called back. "I can't Bend metal! I'll slow it down from here!"

"All right," Ashfeather called back, after a bit of thinking. "Good luck!"

Before going back to follow Silverheart, Goldwing watched as Nightpaw did her best to stop the drill. She tried vainly to stop the forward movement of the Drill by Bending up an outcropping of stone, but both she and the brace were pushed along back by the persisting force of the Drill's progress.

A yowl from Ashfeather told Goldwing he was getting left behind. Just after looking down at the small black cat again, the golden tom got up and padded after his other friends.

**...**

When Goldwing and his friends padded around some more in the drill, they felt the area glow red around them. Looking around, they saw that there were many pipes and valves decorating the inside of the drill's engine room. This looked like where rats would play instead of a place for the drill's engine.

Ashfeather looked over the pipes, muttering, "We need to find the plans of this machine. You know, charts to show what the insides look like. Then we can find its weak points and hit 'em hard."

"But where are we gonna get something like that?" Goldwing asked him.

To his horror, Ashfeather took out his walrus-tusk knife and started hitting the pipes with the sharp end. Then he started slashing it back and forth, cutting up the steam valve. Goldwing rushed forward, hissing, "Ashfeather! What the hell are you doing? Someone's gonna hear us!"

"Exactly," the WaterClan warrior told Goldwing. The golden tom looked worryingly around as steam began filling the room. "I believe a machine as big as this needs an engineer to keep it in check. And when something breaks in here..."

"Then they'll have to send someone over here to fix it!" Silverheart finished for him as she and Goldwing exchanged smiles.

Goldwing now saw sense in this part of the plan. If they could just trap the engineer and knock him out (not murder him), they could get an important cat out of the way so the drill could be destroyed faster. So the three cats climbed up the pipes and crouched there, waiting like crows swooping down on fish.

Moments later, a large FireClan engineer in a filter mask appeared through the steam, holding a large wrench and a rolled up paper in his jaws. The large cat lifted his muzzle into the air and started sniffing the air; it was as if he was sniffing for prey. But it was clear that he was looking out for intruders.

Finally, Silverheart dropped down from the pipe and landed behind the engineer. The FireClan tom turned to see if she was in the steam, but all she said was:

"Yo."

At this, she flicked her tail around and started Bending the steam around her. Condensing it into an icy shell, the silver she-cat wrapped it around the engineer, trapping him. Silverheart backed off from the gray tabby, letting Goldwing and Ashfeather get behind her. The two toms leapt down from the pipes and ran up to the engineer, Ashfeather scooping the paper from the cat's frozen jaws.

"This'll work, thanks very much!" Ashfeather meowed as he picked up the paper with his teeth.

The three warriors raced off, leaving the large gray tabby helplessly trapped in ice. Behind them, the clank of a wrench dropped was heard through the metal floor.

As the three cats travelled through some of the drill, Ashfeather suddenly stopped at this. He had bunched his muscles together and leaped onto a larger pipe, laying the paper out across it. His sister and Goldwing leaped up beside him onto the pipe to look at it.

Ashfeather began explaining, "This Drill is made up of two main structures. Here's the inner machine, where we are now, and the outer shell." He traced his claw along the diagram while speaking, "The inner part and the outer part are connected by these brace pillars. If we can cut through them, the entire thing will break down."

He rolled up the paper, placed it in his jaws, and looked around him at the other cats as if waiting for them to agree. Goldwing and Silverheart nodded, so Ashfeather leaped down from the pipe and raced off towards their destination. His friends did the same thing.

**...**

The arrival point for BoulderClan, which was like a large stone train station, was totally packed. Cats were walking about in groups, and Bearclaw sat away from them, not wanting to speak to anyone right now. Irontail was sitting around a waiting area, tapping the tip of his feathery tail on the wall.

Bearclaw stood up, ready to go for a short round of hunting. Perhaps the officials here would let him take prey onto the train. He had just gotten up when Flash padded over to them and sat down next to Bearclaw.

"You got any plans once you get into the city?" the brown-&-ginger striped tom asked him.

Bearclaw was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a cream merchant with a cream cart. Instead of a cat, the cream merchant was a green-&-yellow macaw.

The macaw was squawking, "Get your fresh hot cream here! Finest cream in BoulderClan!"

"Excuse me!" Irontail called out; his amber eyes were lit by joy at lapping up cream. When the parrot steered the cream cart over to them, the fat gray tabby meowed, "May I have some emerald flower cream?"

The macaw nodded and grabbed a bowl in its strong beak, a beak that could break a cat's claw off its paw. With one foot, it brought out a pitcher of cream from a cabinet in the cart; with the other foot, it held the bowl down. It poured some cream into the bowl, fluttered down carefully to the floor, and pushed the bowl towards Irontail.

Irontail accepted it gratefully and, when the macaw wheeled the cart away, lapped one tongueful of cream. But suddenly, his eyes widened in shock and he spat it out in disgust. His nephew just looked at him in mild shock; Irontail had never tasted any cream he never liked before.

"Ugh!" Irontail spat, rubbing his tongue frantically with his paw. "This is more like the foulest cream in BoulderClan! Outrageous!"

Bearclaw rolled his eyes at this.

"Hey, can I talk with you, Moss?" Flash was looking at him with interest. "Just for a moment."

The dark brown tabby tom looked over at Irontail, who was still complaining about the foul bowl of cream. He gave a sigh, got up while making sure Irontail didn't watch, and padded after Flash to behind a large pillar. Hornet and Spearhead were waiting for them; Hornet was just snorting crossly, and Spearhead was flicking one of his ears.

Flash sat down at the head of the group and meowed, "I got something to tell you. You and I could stand a better chance of making it in the city if we stick together. Wanna join the Freedom Fighters ?"

"Sorry, but no," Bearclaw replied with no hesitation. "I don't think I'll fit into your little pack."

"Come on, mouse-brain," Flash retorted playfully. "You know how well we worked together when we robbed that pig of a captain. Think of all the good things we could do for all the cats in the city. Think of it!"

Bearclaw growled without hesitation, "I said NO. Now leave me alone."

Flash blinked at him, his amber eyes filled with mild surprise. Then he meowed, "All right, fine. Have it your way."

Bearclaw sighed with irritation and padded over to where Irontail was lapping cautiously at his cream. His uncle pushed the bowl around a little bit more before his eyes lit up from maybe having an idea. Then, to Bearclaw's dismay, Irontail spun the bowl around and placed his paw on it, heating it up with steam from his pink paw pads.

A gasp of shock made Bearclaw look up to see Flash staring at them with shock before closing his mouth. But then...it happened. Flash's fur was suddenly bristling, and his amber eyes were widening in shock, realizing what he had seen. Reaching Irontail, Bearclaw looked back to Flash, who now wore a look of ugly hostile suspicion on his face. The rogue tom turned around and stalked off, his two friends following him.

_Does he know we're FireClan cats? _Bearclaw thought, the worry from the back of his mind creeping to the front.

Watching Flash leave them, Bearclaw reached over and slapped the bowl of cream away from his uncle. Irontail responded by grunting, "Hey!"

"Irontail, why the hell are you FireBending your cream?" Bearclaw hissed through gritted teeth. "For a wise elder, that was a stupid move!"

"I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled cream, but..." Irontail sniffed mournfully as he pointed a paw to the puddle of spilled cream, "...it's so _sad!_"

Bearclaw rolled his eyes again.

**...**

A rumble from below told Goldwing that they were travelling over rocks, crushing them in the process. Ashfeather was leading them on through the drill, out a doorway, and out onto a large steel beam. When the two other cats stopped behind him, Ashfeather set the plans down and laid them flat onto the beam.

"Wow," Ashfeather mewed, studying the plans. "They look bigger than they do in the plans. We'll have to work really hard at this to cut through this beam."

Silverheart raised a brow in disbelief. "What's this 'we' stuff? Goldwing and I will be doing the hard work."

Ashfeather rose to his haunches and gestured to himself with his paws, meowing, "Look, I'm the planning cat." Making chopping waves with his forepaws, he added, "And you two are the 'chop all the shit up with WaterBending' cats." Finishing the speech with his chest puffed with pride, he finished, "Together, we're AvatarClan!"

Goldwing and Silverheart shared embarrassed looks as if he had just given them bad names. But team names were the least of their worries; they would have to make Ashfeather take away the team name later. What they needed to do was climb up some of the beams and cut them down with powerful WaterBending.

So the three cats padded over to one of the beams and Ashfeather stepped away from the beam to let them do their work. Silverheart began Bending the water out of her water pouch, sending it to ring against the edge of a vertical beam before being caught by Goldwing, who Bended it back at her along the same path. As the water went back in forth, a scratch began to form in the side of the thick beam. Wearing looks of active concentration, Goldwing and Silverheart sent the water slicing back through the diagonal cut again and again.

Moving forward to a point where the cut has reached the midway point through the beam, the two cats bent over, gasping with exhaustion. However, Ashfeather was prancing around them, calling out needless stuff to them.

"C'mon, team! Don't give up now!" Ashfeather cheered them on. "We're doing it! We're-"

But Silverheart spun around and gave him a glare and a hiss, her ears flattened and her blue eyes narrowed. She seemed ready to explode with anger at any minute like the volcano they stopped a few moons ago.

Ashfeather seemed to get the hint, for he stopped prancing and mewled, "I mean..." He recovered and mewed reassuringly, "Keep up the good work."

The two WaterBending cats resumed slicing away at the girder little by little. Ashfeather looked on, an eager look of expectancy growing on his face. Finally, the beam was cut easily in two, and the upper section grinded down the angled cut a few inches before screeching to a halt.

But it came at a cost: the exhaustion Goldwing and Silverheart were feeling. The two cats sat down with a plop and began panting.

"This is bullshit," Silverheart gasped, spitting a little on the beam. "At this rate, we won't do any damage before the drill gets to the wall."

"Well, I don't know how much of those I have left," Goldwing panted, plopping down beside her.

Suddenly, Ashfeather lashed his tail at them to shut up and listen; tiredly, the two cats sat still and listened. An ominous shudder and low moan passed down the length of the Drill.

"Did you hear that?" Ashfeather told the gold-&-silver cats, straining his ears towards the sound. "We took it down! Now let's get outta here!"

But as they raced away, they paused at a doorway, listening once again. A voice was coming down from overhead speaking tubes. They paused as still as they could; the voice seemed to belong to a middle-aged tomcat...

...

"Well done, crew," Logtail was meowing to the cats in the cabin. "The drill is now making its way into the wall even as we speak." Turning to Frostfire, he meowed, "Let us all start the countdown to victory!"

Frostfire nodded, an illegible expression on her face. She got up from her seat to pad over to the window to see the scene before her. Right before her, the drill's titanic bit penetrated into the surface of the outer wall.

The black she-cat looked at it some more before smirking evilly. This was one plan that was going to go well.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Whirring sounds told Goldwing that the drill was starting to bore into the outer wall. A different view from the window told them the rubble from the wall was being soaked with moisture as it was carried backwards through the Dill. He looked around the red room with slight worry; any minute now, the drill would tear down the wall.

Ashfeather, meanwhile, was throwing his weight against the severed black girder. The other two cats watched on with worry as he kept pushing the girder with little success.

"Come on, girder! Budge!" the dark gray tabby warrior kept grunting.

Deciding that there was nothing else to do for now, Goldwing and Silverheart rested on the beam they were standing on. They laid down and tucked their paws under their chests while Ashfeather kept up the hopeless progress. Finally, Silverheart stood up.

"It won't budge, okay?" she told her brother. "This is bad. REALLY bad."

Ashfeather insisted, "But we're putting everything we've got into breaking these damn braces! And you wanna know why it's not breaking down? It's taking too long!"

Suddenly, as Goldwing watched this little scene, he looked around at the braces, forming an idea in his head. He recalled something Nightpaw told him while training in EarthBending: breaking down a weakness from the inside. And he saw that Ashfeather was using too much of his power to try and break the girder. There had to be some way to persuade his friend to think like a cat with EarthBending.

_I think I got it._

So he meowed, "I think we don't have to cut it all the way. Nightpaw taught me something about not using all of your energy in one go." He got to his paws and padded over to Ashfeather, who gave him a look of confusion.

"Do a battle pose, Ashfeather. You'll have to be fast and precise," he ordered as the WaterClan warrior did so. He hooked a forepaw around one of Ashfeather's back paws and pulled it back, pulling him off balance. "Hit a series of points, and break your foe's stance." Goldwing hit him with a series of false blows. "And when he's taking a break, you deliver the final blow." The golden cat bonked him lightly on the head as a finish. "His own weight literally becomes his downfall."

When he was being used like a dummy, Ashfeather flopped forward comically onto the beam.

Silverheart spoke up, "So instead of cutting all the way through the beam, we just weaken the braces?"

Goldwing nodded. "Yep. Then I'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow."

"Then BOOM! It all crashes down!" Ashfeather spoke up while lying down. He was raising his forepaws in the air before sweeping them above him.

"Yeah." Goldwing looked up to the top of the beam and mewed with passion, "Everyone in those walls and everyone in the world...they're counting on us. We won't let them down."

Ashfeather sat up and added, "Everyone IS counting on us. Except for FireClan, of course."

He just grinned at them after saying that, hoping they would laugh along. But instead, Goldwing and Silverheart looked frustrated with him.

Anyhow, Goldwing and Silverheart raced to various pillar beams and started to weaken them with WaterBending. Slowly but fortunately, the beams began to weaken.

"That's enough!" Goldwing called to his friends as they finished with one beam. "Let's go on to the next one!" At this, he ran off to the next beam, the other two cats following him quickly.

**...**

Nightpaw was still struggling greatly to slow its advance with a stone prop. But sadly, it merely resulted in a pile of loose earth growing behind her paws as both she and the brace were dragged along. The small apprentice dug her claws deep into the machine, blood seeping up from around her claws, but she didn't mind.

"Come on, Twinkletoes!" she grunted as she tried hard to stop the machine. "Hurry up!"

Beside her, to her shock, several EarthBending cats that survived the attack rushed forth to help. Some cats summoned up stone from the ground to stop the tires, while others started to dig into the ground, tossing boulders at the drill. They must have seen her struggling and rushed over to help out.

**...**

Frostfire looked down at the pool of water in front of her seat, leaning down to lap at the chilling water. She smirked silently to herself as she thought of all the territory FireClan would conquer if they broke through BoulderClan's walls. Any minute now, the cries of frightened cats and the boom of crumbling walls would reach her ears as calmly as music.

But however, her thoughts came to an abrupt end. As she finished lapping up some water, a loud voice was calling through one of the voice speakers.

"War Minister, an engineer was ambushed! His plans were stolen!" the voice called.

Logtail's eyes widened with shock, fear flowing into their gaze. Frostfire narrowed her eyes, her fur bristling with suspicion.

A second voice called, "War Minister, a support beam on the starboard side has been cut clean through! It's damaged, sir!"

Logtail gulped, paralyzed by fear, as he watched Frostfire from the corner of his eye. The black she-cat guessed her was afraid she would have him executed for negligence.

_Not today, _she decided. Turning to Rose and Aya, she called, "Move out, girls! We got a prowler to catch!"

Aya leaped to her paws right away while Rose yawned and rose slowly to her paws. Flicking her head towards the doorway, she dashed out to the superstructure of the drill, her friends running behind her.

**...**

His paw slipping a little on the beam, Goldwing pulled it back as he and Silverheart continued their work. So far, things were looking well with the beams being weakened one by one, bit by bit. Ashfeather was watching, no longer shouting needless stuff to them; he was just patrolling about, his tail lashing eagerly.

"Good work, AvatarClan!" he meowed after pacing around. He turned around to add, "Now all Goldwing has to do is...DUCK!"

The Avatar Cat swiftly ducked low just in time for his ears to avoid being singed by blue flames. Dread filling him at knowing who the owner was, he got back up and hissed at who had come to confront them.

It was Frostfire; the black-furred FireClan deputy was sliding down a girder right towards the three other cats. Her other friends, the white-furred Aya and the dark tortoiseshell Rose, were sliding on the beam next to her. While they slid down towards their targets, the three she-cats leapt off and landed with a thud right before them.

Frostfire's claws were shrouded by blue flames, and then she raised it into their air and fired the flames at Goldwing. The golden AirClan warrior let out a yowl of surprise as he ducked to avoid the second blast.

Aya spoke up, "Wow! You were right, Frostfire! It IS the Avatar Cat! And friends," she purred with a seductive smile on her face.

Goldwing looked up at the white FireClan warrior, confused. What was Aya smiling at?

"Uh, hey there," Ashfeather stuttered, smiling vacantly and waving.

Silverheart rolled her eyes, grabbed her littermate's tail, and dragged him away. Goldwing didn't know Ashfeather had a bit of a longing for Aya.

Letting out a battle yowl, Aya dropped to the bottom part of the girder and leapt at Goldwing. Spinning around on the spot, Goldwing lashed out a hind leg and kicked the FireClan cat in the belly, making her yowl with shock and leap backwards. While Aya stood there, dazed from the attack, the AvatarClan cats took the chance to run off to the doorway into the corridor, the three FireClan she-cats following them.

As they ran down corner after corner, Goldwing started getting tired. Panting noises behind him told the golden cat that his friends were also getting tired. Right when they approached a cross-shaped intersection, Goldwing stopped.

"You should go, you two," he told the WaterClan cats. "I've got something I can do here."

He spun around on the spot and started to run down the corridor. Tobias, who was absent when they were in the framework, flew over him, his wings flapping hard.

"Goldwing, wait!" Silverheart's mew made Goldwing turn around, thinking she was telling him to not do it. Instead, she reached into her bag, got her small WaterBending pouch out, and tossed it to him. "You need this more than I do right now!"

The AirClan warrior gave her a nod before darting off. He could hear his friend's pawsteps fade away into the walls of the drill.

"Follow them. The Avatar Cat is my prey," Frostfire's cold meow made Goldwing run deeper into the drill.

**...**

Silverheart and Ashfeather ran with all their might until they reached a dead end. They looked behind them to make sure Frostfire or her lackeys weren't following them before looking back around. In front of them was a large hatch marked by a sign written in English.

"'Slurry pipe?'" Silverheart read as Ashfeather struggled to open the hatch with both paws wrapped around it. "Wait, what's slurry?"

Ashfeather opened the hatch at last before looking down at it. As he and Silverheart looked at all the stuff inside, he replied, "Slurry's rock and water mixed together; it's like mud except mud's created by water and dirt or sand. To us, it's our way out."

Silverheart leapt onto the rim of the hatch with Ashfeather doing the same thing. As they hung there at the edge of the hatch, they saw two familiar she-cats rushing towards them. Rose and Aya must have sniffed out their scent, but it was perhaps Frostfire who told them to go after the WaterClan cats.

Letting out a squeak of shock, Silverheart let go and leapt into the slurry, followed shortly by her littermate. To them, it was a good thing, for Rose's throwing knives reflected off the open slurry hatch. Both WaterClan cats splashed about in the slurry neck-deep and were quickly swept away by the current.

**...**

Meanwhile, back above the slurry hatch, Rose and Aya had reached the hatch as soon as the dark gray tabby tom vanished. Aya, who didn't mind much of the filthiness despite being a clean cat, leapt onto the brim, looking down with resolution. Rose, who had followed by more slowly than her friend, reared up onto her hind paws and rested her forepaws on the rim as she looked down.

"Ugh," the dark calico she-cat sniffed, making a disgusted face. "That's disgusting."

"Come on, Rose," Aya told her friend, bunching her muscles together to prepare to leap inside. "You heard what Frostfire said. We should go after them."

Rose retorted with a shudder of her long pelt, "Frostfire can shoot all that damn blue fire at me all she wants. I am NOT going into that wall mud juice."

Aya rolled her gray eyes at her and leaped down after them. The white she-cat didn't seem to be affected by the mud juice on her clean pelt. Taking a deep breath, she ducked her head beneath the murky brown waves.

**...**

Back inside the drill, Goldwing panted as he ran on ahead away from the intersection. In front of him, he saw several FireClan warriors place themselves in a circle, ready to throw him down to the ground. Goldwing leapt into the air, landed in the middle of the circle, and watched on as the cats ran at him. He pushed some warriors to the ground, slashed others across the faces with his claws, and blasted some away with AirBending. With that done, Goldwing ran off.

Behind him, Frostfire was panting harder as she leapt from girder to girder. The black she-cat was like a shadow among the girders, leaping like a phantom haunting him. Goldwing swore her claws were crackling with electricity every time they landed on the cold steel. He watched as she landed on the ground behind him before launching an air blast behind him with his tail. When Frostfire was blown back, he ran away as fast as he could.

After dodging some engineers, who couldn't see him because of their repertory masks, Goldwing slid to a halt as he arrived at a dead end. But there was a ladder in front of him, and he looked up to see a hatch right above his head. Sighing with determination, Goldwing leapt onto the ladder and started climbing upwards.

_StarClan, let this be the right choice._

**...**

Yowling with terror, the WaterClan siblings rode the cascade of slurry out the rear spout of the drill, sliding to a halt into a large pool of slurry starting to form at its rear. Once they hit the dirty ground, Ashfeather began to wipe the horrible stuff off his tongue, lashing his tail around in the slurry in disgust. Silverheart rolled her eyes at that.

"Ashfeather, it wouldn't have hurt you to close your mouth, would it?" Silverheart asked him.

"Hey, don't tell me like that," her brother retorted. "You were also screeching your head off!"

Silverheart was about to say something else, but she looked back and gasped. Ashfeather looked away from her and widened his eyes with shock.

Aya was appearing from the pipe exhaust, riding waist deep in the slurry flow with a look of wicked eagerness on her face. The two cats had never seen anything like that on her face from the three times they had faced her before. Just before she would reach the ground, Silverheart Bended back the rush of slurry, pinning the mud-covered white she-cat at the end of the pipe.

Silverheart growled at her fiercely, "Try blocking my chi NOW, circus bitch!" As she said this, she raised herself onto her haunches resolutely and raised one forepaw into the air.

Ashfeather meowed, "Keep it up, little sis! The pressure will build up in the drill! Then when Goldwing makes the final blow, it'll pop like a toad!"

**...**

Goldwing placed one paw on the lid of the hatch before pushing up with all of his might. He let out a sigh of relief, and then it turned to revolt. Right now, he smelled something that was like a mix of fox-dung and boulders. Tobias flew out of the hole after him, soaring around in the air, cawing with joy at smelling fresh air once again. But Goldwing remembered something right away: the wall.

He leapt out of the hole and started rushing towards the wall, only to stop when he looked in horror at what he saw. The drill was already deep within the wall, drilling harder and piles of mud flying in its wake. Goldwing's delicate paws were now becoming stained from all the mud.

"This looks like a good place for the final blow," Goldwing told Tobias, who had landed next to him. "Now how to..."

But he didn't finish, for he had to leap out of the way of a large boulder that bounced off where he was standing. Goldwing barely had enough time to recover when he gave a yowl of surprise. This was because more boulders were raining down onto him. He dodged a second and third rock before looking up.

"Barkfur!" Goldwing yowled up to the warrior directing the attacks. "Tell your warriors to stop shooting rocks down here!"

The brown-&-gray tabby tom looked down in confusion, perhaps not hearing him. Then, much to Goldwing's dismay, Barkfur yowled, "Warriors! No matter what, do not stop shooting those rocks down there!" Then he withdrew, covering his face with his paws.

The row of Benders next to him released another volley of boulders down below them. Below, Goldwing sped past this new wave of stones, and as he landed, opened up the water pouch that Silverheart let him borrow. Taking a deep breath, he let the water form around his claws and began rapidly slicing the surface of the drill.

**...**

There was another battle still raging on at the end of the drill. Silverheart continued blocking the pipe's exhaust with a slurry ball containing Aya, who was yowling with surprise. Ashfeather was once again calling out needless cheers and speeches her way.

The dark gray tabby tom called out, "Nice move, Silverheart! Keep it up! Remember to breathe!"

Finally, the silver she-cat lost her temper, snarling, "Will you shut the fuck up already? I'm so sick and tired of you telling me what to do all day! You're acting like a ranting baboon!"

"JUST BEND THAT SLURRY, WOMAN!" Ashfeather screamed back.

Silverheart sighed and Bended up a rush of slurry with her free forepaw. But she did this behind her, for she ended up launching him up to plunge back down into the foul muck. Ashfeather let out a moan of revolt and started shaking the muck off of him, but she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, guys! Need any help?"

Silverheart looked under the drill with surprise. Nightpaw was crawling out from underneath a pile of earth under the tires.

"Hey, Nightpaw!" Silverheart called to her apprentice. "Help me out with plugging this up!"

Nightpaw nodded and ran over to her, her black pelt stained with dirt. Bracing her muddy legs, she matched up with Silverheart, driving the slurry-plug even further up the pipe. Aya was now writing violently amongst the murky sludge, but Silverheart felt satisfied with this.

And right now, the slurry pipe system began to buckle and swell under the pressure.

**...**

At the front of the drill, fountains of slurry began to jet where the drill met the wall. Just nearby, Goldwing continued to rapidly cut away at the outer hull in an X-like pattern. Somehow, the water left an X-shaped scar on the surface of the drill, and that was better than nothing.

But this came at a cost for the golden tomcat. When he stopped to take a break, he lowered his head and began panting out of exhaustion. He gave a sigh and sat down, ready to lay down for just a few moments.

"Great StarClan, I wish I was a MetalBender right now," Goldwing panted.

Tobias, who was sitting down next to him, suddenly gave out a sharp cry. Goldwing looked up in time and leaped out of the way as he deflected a blast of blue flame with an air blast. His red-tailed hawk flew upwards just in time to avoid the fire coming at him.

Not wanting to get his hawk in danger, Goldwing called, "Tobias, get out of here! I'll handle this!"

Tobias nodded, spread his wings, and took off. Goldwing turned around in time to take a stance.

He saw a feline shadow and looked up at Frostfire herself, who was making a stance with a look of steady confidence. Goldwing, who looked nowhere near as sure of himself, backed away until he was up against the wall. The two wildcats were facing off about a dozen fox-lengths apart on top of the drill.

Frostfire began the fight by launching a ball of fire at Goldwing, who ducked and sent an arc of wind at her. Leaping over the windblast, the black cat struck again, but she was forced to counter a rapid series of water-whips slapping away her attack gestures, blood spraying from an attack at the face. Leaping into the air, Frostfire sent a pair of aerial FireBending kicks towards the whips, drying up the water Goldwing was Bending, and sending him spinning back. She was prevented from pressing the attack, however, as another salvo of boulders from above forced both of them to dodge.

Goldwing caught one of the boulders with Bending, sending it hurtling at Frostfire. The FireClan deputy fell into a split to avoid it, rose up, and launched another fire blast. The golden warrior cat EarthBended pieces of rubble into a protective wall, then he tossed chunks of it toward Frostfire. Kicking them out of the air, she launched a sweeping counter blast which barely missed the head of Goldwing, who hurled an even larger chunk towards her. Vaulting into the air, Frostfire made an incredible forward spinning double-kick fire blast, destroying his defensive wall and hurtling him backwards to slam against the outer wall.

Moaning with blood dripping from his jaws, Goldwing looked up to see Frostfire sneering coldly at him. Her yellow eyes seemed to glow a demonic-like color, and her black fur turned a grayish color in the dying sunset. Despite that, there was a bloody slash on her flank, but she ignored it as if it was nothing.

Readying another attack, Frostfire relaxed as she saw the Avatar Cat drop down and fall forward, unconscious; he was sprawled against the drill's hull. Frostfire was shaken by the advance of the drill, and the massive bit would be bursting through the other side of the outer wall. Goldwing could barely move as he was slowly pulled under the wall's exterior by the progress of the Drill. Frostfire pulled him up by his scruff and shoved him up against the wall. As she clawed at his muzzle and cheek, Goldwing slowly opened one eye to see a blurry Frostfire preparing to deliver the final blow.

Finally, one of Goldwing's dark gray eyes snapped open in alarm. He spun his head around, bit through the surface of the wall, and surrounded his fangs with jaws of broken rock. Quickly, he caught Frostfire's scruff and threw her far back, her claws sparking against the drill's structure. Goldwing made a defiant EarthBending stance as she leaped at him, paws spread out and ablaze.

**(Author's Note: Lion King much, anyone?)**

The battle was suddenly disrupted by a blast of slurry that erupted at the point where the drill met the wall, throwing Goldwing from his paws before slamming against the onrushing FireClan cat, their heads crashing together. The golden cat flailed about, trying to get to his paws, and made it to his knees before Frostfire, forelegs flailing, skated weakly through the slop to send them both bowling into the wall. Knocked briefly senseless, they both slid face-first through the slurry and away from the wall, diverging to slip down opposite sides of the Drill.

Recovering, Frostfire tried to stop her plunge using her paws, her claws sparking. She managed to stop herself midway down the side of the drill, clutching at it riskily. Meanwhile, Goldwing slid down his back, his rock fangs breaking apart as he tried to stop himself with it. At last, he was rescued by Tobias; the hawk swooped down, catching his scruff and pulling him up so he could use his swift-running technique to get to the top of the drill. The Avatar Cat landed back onto the back of the drill, and Tobias settled on his back.

"Thanks, Tobias," Goldwing purred, reaching his paw up to pat Tobias on the head. "I owe you one."

Tobias nodded as if he knew what his owner said.

While his hawk took off, Goldwing padded along the Drill's back, through the slurry mess, to stop at the X cut into the plating. He looked down at it, knowing that water was not going to make the drill fall apart faster.

"Now all I need is a_..._" A boulder crashed down next to him, startling him. "Wow. Actually, I DO need that."

Bending the boulder around to the incision, he began a series of full EarthBending moves, each slicing away a large chunk of boulder. Eventually, he was left with a large stone spike pointed down into the breach. Goldwing dropped back, fell into a sprinter's stance, and started running toward the wall. Nearing it, he Bended up small balls of air and set his paws in there, riding up the sheer face of the outer wall. As he ran up the wall, the Air Paws dissipated, and Goldwing began to run up the vertical face. As his momentum fell away, he turned around and saw that he had nearly reached the top of the outer wall, the drill far below him.

With a powerful battle screech, Goldwing spun around and ran down at top speed. Meanwhile, Frostfire, who crawled back up on top of the drill with blood dripping down her face, spotted the golden cat falling down parallel to the wall. With a shout, Goldwing broke free of the wall and plunged downward, spinning in circles, as Frostfire prepared a potent blast to intercept him. Her attack passed just over his head as he struck the spike with incredible force, pushing all four of his paws deep into the spike. The explosive shockwave hurled a shrieking Frostfire through the air as it traveled the length of the drill.

The drill beneath Goldwing's weary paws began to shudder brutally. He could tell that the beams in the superstructure room began to cut in half as torrents of slurry rushed past. Then he could see a chain of slurry eruptions begin at the front segment and work their way towards the rear. And at the rear were his friends; Silverheart and Nightpaw were Bending something while Ashfeather was standing behind them.

"Everyone, get behind this pillar!" Nightpaw was calling, stomping the ground and making a tall earth pillar appear under them. "She's gonna blow!"

As the rock pillar rose from the lake of slurry, a great rush of it issued out from the exhaust pipe. Aya was somehow washed up against the earth pillar, slammed against it, and held there by the powerful current. Safe atop the pillar, Nightpaw and the WaterClan cats watched as one by one the segments of the drill crash to a stop, great clouds of steam rising from them. On the other side of the wall, the massive bit slowly stopped rotating.

While the sun set before him, Goldwing got wearily to his paws, mud covering his bright golden fur. He lifted a forepaw and swiped the mud away from his face, revealing a large smile on his face. Tobias landed on top of his head and started hopping up and down on the mud. They had done it; they stopped the drill at long last.

Goldwing looked upwards to look at the mud-covered windshield of the Drill command center. As the mud slid away, it revealed a pale brown tom, standing with an expression of horror and amazement. In another minute, Goldwing's gray gaze followed a long streak of mud that had exploded up the face of the wall. Barkfur was sitting there, completely covered in mud, as it dripped away to reveal the pathetic look on his face.

_Thanks again, sir, _Goldwing told him silently. _Looks like you DID need us after all!_

Aya was sitting up from the mud pool, wiping her face clean, and spitting out a mouthful of mud in disgust. Frostfire slid down the back of the Drill, dropping down next to her and splashing her with a fresh layer of mud; the mud turned a dark red thanks to the blood from Frostfire's head wound. The FireClan deputy looked back to see a steaming hatch open in the rear of the drill, revealing a somber Rose.

And all Rose said was... "We lost."

**...**

"Last call for passengers to BoulderClan!"

As the cats that were heading for BoulderClan padded forward, Bearclaw looked around him. Some cats were skinny with several sick-looking kits following them, while others were big burly cats. Also, some cats were old and weak, while others looked too young and also weak. The rest were divided; some weak, some strong.

Bearclaw heard a growling noise, and he turned his head to see who it was. Flash was stalking aboard the train with Hornet and Spearhead following him. When Flash looked back at him, there was anger and rage hidden beneath those amber depths.

"Relax, Flash!" Hornet was telling him. "So the gray tabby elder ordered a bowl of warm cream. So what?"

"So what?" Flash repeated through clenched teeth. "Hornet, that old bastard didn't order any warm cream. I saw him heating it up by himself! Those two cats are FireBenders!"

Looking over at them, Bearclaw allowed himself to be led to the train by Irontail. When the two former FireClan cats passed Flash and his friends, Flash turned away from them with a snort while Spearhead lowered his head to hide his face behind his hat. They were attempting to look ordinary as they boarded a few cars down.

Still angry about Flash asking him to join him, Bearclaw sat down next to his uncle in a different seat. Three cats were already there with them: a black-&-white tomcat, a brown tabby-&-white queen who smelled of milk and kits, and a gray tabby she-cat. Bearclaw got up and looked over to where his uncle was looking. There were three kits suckling close to the brown tabby she-cat's belly; one was black-&-white, one was light gray, and the other was golden tabby.

Bearclaw shook his head as he saw the family of loners. He recognized them as the family he had almost mugged when he was alone for the time being. And the formerly pregnant she-cat looked like she had given birth just a few hours ago.

"What beautiful kits you have, ma'am," Irontail purred, tickling the light gray kit with his tail.

The brown tabby-&-white queen nodded back and smiled, purring, "Thank you, sir. They were born just this morning."

"Their names are Fox, Mist, and Hope," the black-&-white tom spoke up proudly. "We just love these little ones already."

The golden tabby kit squeaked as if agreeing, and the queen looked down at her with pretty green eyes. Beside her, her littermates didn't reply, for they were continuing to feed.

Bearclaw looked away from the kits to look out the back window. Two EarthBenders began to push it forward with a grinding noise; at last, the train had pulled out of the station. The train was now traveling on a raised track over sunset lit fields. To many, it was a great place to get away from danger, but to Bearclaw, it was an unknown life.

**...**

Goldwing sniffed the air as he and his friends watched the sunset from the top of the wall. For right now, the stench of mud and blood had filled the air, but the stench would fade away soon. But for Goldwing and his pack, the air smelled like victory and peace. Goldwing felt the wounds sting, but it was worth it.

"I'd like to say this: good work out there, AvatarClan!" Ashfeather spoke up happily.

Silverheart sighed and growled, "Enough of this AvatarClan bullshit today. It won't catch on no matter how hard you try!"

But Ashfeather didn't look miffed. Instead, he meowed, "Well, how about..." He leaped into the air and drew out his badger-bone boomerang, startling Tobias, "...the Golden Quadro! See? It's good! There's four of us, and he's golden," he added, patting Goldwing's head. "The GOLDen Quadro!"

Goldwing purred, "Hey, I like that one!"

"We'll talk about names once we're in the city," Silverheart huffed, walking away towards the other end of the wall. The other three cats followed her with Ashfeather bouncing after them.

"How about the Furious Four?" Ashfeather mewed happily.

Silverheart retorted, "How about not?"

Ashfeather tried once again, "How about the Awesome Pawesome?"

"You're crazier than a loon," Nightpaw retorted as she began walking faster away. Goldwing and Silverheart did the exact same thing.

"Why?" Ashfeather called back, now alone. "We're awesome!"

The three cats rolled their eyes while Ashfeather ran after them. They were finally going into the heart of BoulderClan.

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Once again, folks, I'm sorry if I haven't updated recently.**

**Katara: It's okay. But besides the World Of Warcraft thing, what kept you so long?**

**AvatarCat12: My friend spent the night this weekend, and we went to a housewarming party my sister held at her apartment yesterday.**

**Aang: Wow. I wish we were there.**

**AvatarCat12: It's over now, but it was okay. So who wants to say the review and the preview for Clan Of Walls And Secrets?**

**Aang: I will! (To the readers) Read and review, everyone! Those who do will get a virtual person from each race (by choice) from World Of Warcraft. Flames aren't allowed, but advice and constructive criticism are.**

**Preview: AvatarClan has finally made it into BoulderClan, and they have to give the leader the great news. But when they arrive, they see that something's not right in this huge city. Meanwhile, Bearclaw tries to fit into the city but finds it too hard. And Flash tries to expose the former Clan cats as FireBenders.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	15. Clan Of Walls And Secrets

**AvatarCat12: Hey, everyone! I'm still doing World Of Warcraft. But I'll still try hard at doing it.**

**Aang: I've tried it once before, but I decided to give it a break. And it's best if I don't play it until I'm ready.**

**AvatarCat12: Really? Why?**

**Katara: Because it could distract him from his Avatar duties.**

**AvatarCat12: Man, I forgot about that for a moment. But I understand. So let's go ahead with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter(s) are the proud owners of Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats. Not me. I blend them together for others' enjoyment.**

**Summary: ****AvatarClan has finally made it into BoulderClan, and they have to give the leader the great news. But when they arrive, they see that something's not right in this huge city. Meanwhile, Bearclaw tries to fit into the city but finds it too hard. And Flash tries to expose the former Clan cats as FireBenders.**

**Uploading Date: May 23, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**Clan Of Walls And Secrets**_

"Look! It's the inner wall!" Silverheart's voice made Goldwing look up to see the inner wall of the capital drawing closer. "I can't believe we made it to BoulderClan alive and well!"

Goldwing nodded and looked out the window. Beside the train, there was a vast meadow, where a few pronghorn antelope were grazing beside a large river. They looked up at the train tracks in wonder as the train moved by, pushed by two EarthBenders. Several other plant-eating animals came by their side to gaze at this snaking wonder before them.

_We made it, _Goldwing thought to himself. _We made it to BoulderClan._

But Ashfeather hissed to his sister, "Hey, don't jinx it! We could still be attacked by some giant stabbing FireClan spoon! Or we could find the city submerged in a sea of killer penguins!"

"Ashfeather, you hitting the cactus juice again?" Nightpaw asked him with a bored yawn.

"I'm just sayin' how it is," the dark gray tabby tom replied. "Weird things like this happen to us all the time."

At that moment, a very strange dirt-colored hippo with a glossy stare and a corncob in its mouth took a seat between Nightpaw and Ashfeather, startling them. The large animal chewed on the cob of corn before looking at the cats through small piggy eyes. When the cats didn't run away, it continued chewing and stared out the window, its short tail waggling.

Goldwing gave a sad sigh and also looked out a window. That hippo briefly reminded him of his dragon; Archie would have to be in BoulderClan like the SandClan cats said. But that reminded him of how they themselves had stolen his beloved animal guide from him. The golden tomcat sighed again, rested his head on the sill, and closed his eyes.

He felt a soft paw touch his shoulder as Silverheart meowed, "It's all right, Goldwing. We WILL find Archie. Don't worry."

"You're right," Goldwing replied, opening his eyes and facing her. "But how will we find him easily? This is a big city."

"Goldwing, he's a large white-furred dragon with an arrow on his head," Ashfeather mewed. "Where would they find a dragon in a city like this?" But when he turned away from him, he uttered, "...damn."

The Avatar Cat looked around as his friend uttered this word out loud. The car passed through the inner wall and entered the vast enormous city, making the older warriors gasp in awe.

The city of BoulderClan stretched farther than the eye could see, and it was peppered with many paths and buildings. It looked much bigger than MudClan, Rockstar's Clan; MudClan was just the second biggest Clan in EarthClan. Goldwing wondered if Rockstar ever came here to play around or other stuff, but he assured himself he must have.

Their car finally came to a stop at the monorail station. All of them got off of the train and were greeted by another spectacular view of BoulderClan. But only Nightpaw looked unimpressed.

"Here we are in the big city again," the small black she-cat sighed. "Whoopee."

Ashfeather looked back at her. "Nightpaw, you got maggot-gut or something? It looks great!"

Nightpaw retorted, "Oh, believe me. It's just a bunch of walls and rules. You just wait; you'll get sick of it in a couple of sunrises."

Goldwing took the time to sit down, reach into his bag, and fish out his dragon whistle. He had bought the item when he was an apprentice, to make sure Archie would here this in only times of trouble. If the whistle could work here, Archie would be able to hear it just several skylengths away.

He brought it to his lips and blew on it as he looked across the city. Nothing answered him, but he could tell that Archie was here.

_I'm coming for you, pal, _he promised silently. To himself he muttered, "He's here. I can feel it."

Behind the group, the monorail cars departed. On the other side of the track was a brown tabby she-cat with long fur that flowed in the wind. She approached them with a very unnatural and very unsettling smile on her face; Goldwing thought this cat was mentally disturbing.

"Hello. My name is Joo Dee," the tabby she-cat greeted them as she padded over to them. "It is a great honor for me to escort the Avatar Cat through BoulderClan." Noticing the other three cats behind Goldwing, she added, "You must be Silverheart, Ashfeather, and Nightpaw. Welcome to our glorious city. Shall we get started?"

"Yes," Ashfeather spoke up politely; Goldwing was surprised to hear the WaterClan warrior sound polite. "We have information about FireClan's army that we need to deliver to your leader right away."

Joo Dee replied, "Excellent. Now let's begin our tour. And after that, I can show you to your new home here. I think you'll like it."

At this, the tabby she-cat turned around and kinked her bushy tail over her head. This was a sign meaning for a cat to follow the tail-flicker. Goldwing, Silverheart, and Nightpaw padded after her, but one cat did not.

Ashfeather groaned, "Ugh! Perhaps you misheard what I just meowed. We need to talk to your leader about the war. It's very important," he added, sounding as if Joo Dee was stupid.

"You are in BoulderClan now," Joo Dee replied, still smiling that weird smile. "You are safe."

The four cats had very confused looks on their faces in reaction to her odd statement. They even gave each other the same looks to one another; was she trying to tell them to forget about it for now? But they knew the same answer: just follow Joo Dee and listen to what she had to say.

So they followed the weird she-cat away from the train station and followed her down the steps.

They arrived at a carriage pulled by a large bay stallion horse and began going through the long streets. Many shops and refugees lined the streets as they went to a part of the city nearest to the great wall. Here and there, birds were flocking around the cats and eating some leftover food from silver crowfood cans. Lastly, there were several fish ponds filled with goldfish, carp, and koi fish.

Goldwing had never seen streets as busy at this in any place he went to. But this was mainly due to living in the mountains fourteen years ago without much technology. However, there was just one reason he had not visited this city that much before.

"This you see before you is the lower ring," Joo Dee was explaining while all five cats rode in the carriage.

Pointing her muzzle to the wall, Silverheart asked, "What's the wall for?"

Joo Dee just replied, "Oh, BoulderClan has many walls. There are the ones outside protecting us, and the ones inside that help keep order. This is where our most recent arrivals live, as well as our carpenters and artists, which means they are cats that work with their paws. It's so charming and lively."

But as the carriage rolled on, Goldwing looked to the side to see something in an alley. Two very shifty toms (one red tabby and the other dark gray) were talking in an alley, a dead turkey at their paws. The red tabby had his claws unsheathed while the dark gray tom was holding a dagger that glistened in the light.

Both glared at the carriage as it passed by. Goldwing hoped to never run into many other cats like them in the future.

"But you might want to be careful at where to walk," Joo Dee mewed with cheerfulness.

"Okay," Silverheart replied, her face torn between disgusted and sympathetic. To Goldwing, she whispered, "Why the hell do they have all these poor cats blocked up in one part of the city?"

Knowing the answer really well, Goldwing whispered back, "Segregation. That's why I never came here to this city. I heard it was more different than how the monks were trained to live."

The silver warrior just nodded and looked back out the window. Goldwing did the same.

**...**

A tiny furry shrew, no bigger than a mouse, watched as Bearclaw prowled through the streets. When his shadow fell over the shrew, it squeaked and tried to flee. Sighing, Bearclaw turned to it and chased the shrew through a thicket of bushes. But when he almost slapped his paw down on the shrew, a vine snake slithered from out of nowhere and grabbed hold of the shrew, swallowing it whole.

Bearclaw gave a snarl of defeat and stalked away. There was nothing to do at all ever since he and Irontail arrived at BoulderClan. There were cats fighting each other for scraps or even some old livestock thrown out among the dirtplace and left to rot. Not only that, but it seemed that the warriors living here had their eyes on him the whole time.

"Bearclaw!" A familiar voice made Bearclaw turn to see Irontail rushing to him. A little basket holding an orange vase of green flowers was dangling from around his neck. Irontail skidded to a halt before rasping happily, "I'd like our new place to look nice in case someone brings home a female friend."

However, the dark tabby glared down at the flowers. "This place isn't a Clan; it's Hell. I don't want a new life here."

Irontail ignored the hostile tone and replied, "Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not. Now come. I found us some new jobs, and we start _this_ afternoon."

Bearclaw sighed as he followed their uncle to where their new home would be at. It made him even dourer at the thought of not backing out of this now.

But little did they know they were being watched by someone other than a warrior...

On one of the building across from them, three cats were crouching, hiding from the two other cats. Flash's tail was thrashing with fury and his fur was bristling. How dare FireClan cats walk around and become karma escapists? To him, FireClan cats should be punished so severely that they wouldn't sit for a moon.

"Ha. Look at them," Flash hissed, leaping down from the building using nearby crates. "They're living under everyone's noses. FireBending bastards..."

Hornet, who was leaping down after him, sighed, "Flash, what did I just say? That cat ordered a hot bowl of cream. It doesn't prove he's a FireBender. And so what if he is? Besides, we can't just attack them there and then. I thought we were going to start over here, to live a new life."

Beside her, Spearhead nodded in agreement.

Flash looked around at them. "Of course we'll start over here. But when we get some evidence, I can report those fox-hearts to the authorities and let them deal with it. Got it?"

The dark tortoiseshell she-cat looked at him with disbelief then defeat. Spearhead's facial look did not change, but he nodded his head as if he understood.

**...**

Goldwing looked out the window again as if he was tired of hearing Joo Dee blabber about other stuff. Actually, he WAS getting tired of hearing her blabber like a parrot. But what worried him more about the city was how these cats were living. It was like separating pure cats and mixed cats due to blood of different Clans.

The Avatar Cat looked up again as their carriage crossed over a bridge. They were now in a much cleaner and nicer looking part of the city.

"This is the middle ring of BoulderClan," the brown tabby she-cat began chattering away. "It is home to the financial district, shops and eateries and the academy."

Ashfeather spoke up, "Hey, we met a teacher from BoulderClan Academy. He took us to an old underground library where we discovered info about the war that is _important for your leader to hear_!" he added sharply in one breath, leaning in close to Joo Dee to emphasize his point.

However, Joo Dee simply grinned cheerfully. "Isn't history fascinating? Here is one of the oldest buildings in the middle ring, the Town Hall."

As their carriage came to a halt, Joo Dee leapt out of the carriage and padded on towards the town hall. Ashfeather stared after her in shock and confusion.

"Is that damn mouse-brain deaf?" the WaterClan tom mewed with disbelief. "She only seems to hear any other word I say to her. But not anything about the War."

"It's called 'being handled.' Get used to it," Nightpaw retorted, yawning loudly.

Goldwing and Silverheart took the chance to give Ashfeather a loom of hopelessness. It meant there would not be much persuading for Joo Dee to listen to what they had to say. This mission was going to be tougher, however, thanks to Joo Dee dismissing everything Ashfeather was trying to say.

**...**

Sharp thorns scratched at Flash's pelt as he dragged himself through the thistle bushes. However, he ignored the pain as small red beads of blood seeped out from his brown-&-orange pelt. But it would be all worth it when he would get those FireBenders arrested and the Clan wouldn't have any more FireClan cats. His heart thumped with triumph whenever he thought of it.

Flash flattened himself against the wall of the cream shop before standing on his hind legs. When he rested his forepaws against the windowsill, he looked inside to see what was happening. The two FireClan cats were talking with the cream-colored spotted owner of the cream shop.

After they were given some work robes, the dark brown tabby already got his on quickly. The owner of the cream shop meowed, "Well, you certainly look like official cream servers now. So how do you feel?"

"I feel stupid," Moss growled.

"Does this come in a large size?" Warthog meowed, trying to tie the string around his neck to try it on.

"I have some extra string in the back room," the cream shop owner replied. "Please, have some cream and wait while I get some."

The cream-colored spotted cat poured two bowls of cream and gave them to his new employees before heading to the back of the shop.

Flash allowed a smirk to come across his face. This was the moment when he would catch them by surprise. If he could catch them and throw them to the authorities, then BoulderClan would be free of FireClan cats. After that, he would try and turn the rest of his life around.

Warthog began lapping up some cream, but he quickly pulled himself away. His flat face was contorted in disgust as he hissed, "Ergh! This cream is nothing more than warm cow juice!"

"Uncle, that's what ALL cream is," Moss muttered.

"How could my own kin say such a thing?" his uncle replied, his eyes filled with shock. "We need to make some major changes around here!"

He took the bowl of cream in his jaws and headed over to the window Flash was spying through. Flash let out a hiss of alarm and pulled away just in time for the elder to dump the cream out the window. The rogue stalked around the corner of the shop and left, unsatisfied.

_Maybe soon, _he thought. _When dusk arrives..._

**...**

"The Upper Ring is home to our most important citizens. Your house is not too far from here."

Goldwing looked around him as their carriage arrived at the Upper Ring. This place, unlike the others, was a beautiful place full of rolling hills and gurgling streams. Tall pagodas were seen sitting atop of these hills.

But they didn't see any more of the hillside as their carriage passed by another wall with a tall gate. Behind it, they could see the roof of an enormous building. Three toms (all dark brown) were standing in the gateway, wearing dark robes and wide brimmed hats. When the carriage passed by, the three cats narrowed their eyes towards the group.

"What's inside that wall, Joo Dee?" Silverheart asked their tour guide.

"And who are those mean-looking cats in the robes and hats?" Ashfeather added.

Nightpaw didn't say anything, for she continued looking down at her paw pads.

"Inside the wall over there is the palace where our leader lives," Joo Dee explained, still smiling that creepy smile. "And those cats you see are warriors of the Tai Kwan. They are the cultural authority of BoulderClan. They are the guardians of all our traditions."

Wanting the tour to end, Goldwing asked her, "So can we see your leader now?"

Joo Dee gave a shrill laugh that sounded like a colorpoint cat. "Oh no, not yet! One doesn't just drop in on our leader."

Goldwing nodded sadly and looked out the window for nearly the tenth time today. For a minute, he wondered why they couldn't see the leader right away, right when the war was going on. He wanted to tell Joo Dee that it was important, but he held back. Besides, if he asked her about Archie, she would just ask who he was.

At last, the cats had arrived at a house surrounded by water with a bridge being the only way on and off. It was quite small, but it was still a nice-looking house with yellow, blue, and green flowers dotted here and there. Geckos were climbing on the walls, catching lizards with their long tongues. Tobias had finally arrived, taking one gecko off the wall as a snack.

"Here we are. Your new home," Joo Dee mewed to AvatarClan. But at the moment, a messenger ran up to Joo Dee and handed her a scroll.

Joo Dee read through the scroll and announced, "More good news. Your request for an audience with our leader is currently being processed, and it should be put through in about a moon. Much more quickly than usual."

"A MOON?" Ashfeather shrieked with shock.

"Two half-moons, actually," Joo Dee corrected him with another creepy smile.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

The four Clan cats looked around their new home as they observed the inside. The first room they entered was, of course, the living room, whose ceiling was decorated by hanging lamps. Right away, Silverheart and Nightpaw went to sit on square mats in the middle of the room. Behind them were some steps leading to a slightly elevated portion of the room.

Goldwing looked around the room with slight interest. This was a good-looking room and house, all right, but there was something else bothering him. No matter how comfortable this house was, the golden cat knew there wouldn't be enough time to enjoy it.

"Isn't this a nice place?" Joo Dee asked them, following the four cats in. "I think you four are going to love it here."

"We'd love it better if we weren't staying here for too long," Ashfeather retorted. "Can't we see your leader any time soon?"

Joo Dee replied, "Our leader is busy ruling the finest city in the world. But when time permits him to, you may be able to speak with him."

"So if we're going to be here for a moon, then we should spend some time looking for Archie," Goldwing spoke up. His paws were itching to go find his dragon and continue their quest.

At the mere mention of the dragon, Tobias lifted his head, looking around wildly. It was not only Goldwing who missed Archie a lot.

Joo Dee nodded and purred, "I'll be more than happy to escort you anywhere you four would like to go."

"We don't need a babysitter, dumbass," Nightpaw growled, getting up and padding to the front door.

"Oh, I won't get in the way," Joo Dee replied happily, though she took a small step into the black she-cat's path. "And to leave you alone would make me a bad host. Where shall we start?"

Goldwing thought long and hard at where to go. Then suddenly, the idea got to him in time.

**...**

"I'm sorry, but I haven't heard anything about a dragon. I didn't even know there were any."

Goldwing and his friends (AND Joo Dee) had gone over to the pet shop, where they were talking with the pet shop manager, a gray tabby. Around them, other animals were ranting in their own native tongues, not paying attention to the cats. Weasels were squeaking, birds were cawing, and even an old tortoise was looking up from his meal of carrots. There were even prey animals and two miniature ponies chewing on piles of hay.

There were bluebirds eating some birdseed at a silver bowl on a stool, but Tobias flew onto the bowl and started eating the birdseed. However, he was quickly scared off by a massive eagle owl as it screeched at him. Goldwing knew the link between hawks and owls; as different birds of prey, they did not get along well.

The golden Avatar Cat meowed to the manager, "Where would someone go if they wanted to sell a stolen animal without anyone knowing?"

"It'll be called _the black market!" _Ashfeather told him abruptly. To the manager and pointing an accusing paw at him, he growled, "Where's the black market? Who runs it Come on! I know you know!"

Looking nervous, the gray tabby began stammering for an answer. But suddenly, he looked from behind Ashfeather's broad shoulder and oddly nodded. Little did the four Clan cats know that Joo Dee was smiling but shaking her head towards him.

"Uh..." the manager meowed. "...that would be illegal. And please leave. Your hawk is upsetting my bluebirds."

The cats turned around to see what the manager was meowing about. There was Tobias, cawing with fury as each bluebird stole grain seed after grain seed from him at another birdseed bowl. Bending his head low, the red-tailed hawk scooped a large amount of birdseed into his beak and stamped his feet impatiently. Finally, the eagle owl seen earlier screeched so loudly that Tobias dropped the birdseed and flew back to his master, cawing a retort back at the owl.

Goldwing rolled his eyes at his hawk's antics. But for now, they would have to find someone else to ask where Archie was at.

**...**

The next stop they went to was the courtyard of the BoulderClan Academy. There were a few students walking around and a tall statue in the middle. Goldwing recalled Professor Gobi, a light brown tabby professor from the same academy. But then he remembered how Wan Shi Tong sunk the library beneath the hot sweltering sands of the desert; he hoped Gobi would make it out soon.

Right now, the four Clan cats were talking to one of the students under the shadow of the statue. He was a mottled brown-&-gray tom with strange glasses on his face, and he was reading from a book called _Gatherings And What They Are About._

"Hmmm..." the mottled tom meowed when the Clan cats told him this information. "I haven't seen a SandBending cat or a nomad around here before. You can ask Professor Gobi; he's the one who knows about other cultures of the Clans."

Goldwing lowered his head and flattened his ears, unable to look up for now. He didn't want to tell this cat that his teacher was missing. But he wasn't sure if Gobi would even make it out of the library; it was surely back in StarClan, so that was where he was probably at.

"Yeah, sure," Ashfeather replied in a disbelieving tone. "And which of your professors could we ask about the war with FireClan?"

The student, unsure of what to do, glanced at Joo Dee, who was still smiling and standing behind the rest of the group. Unknowingly to the other Clan cats, she leaned in and shook her head at the student. But Ashfeather caught this out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at the brown tabby she-cat. However, she stopped before he could tell what she was doing.

Finally, the mottled tom mewed, "Uh...I don't know. I'm not a political science student. Please excuse me. I have to get to class."

The mottled brown-&-gray tom hurried to get away, but he tripped and dropped the scrolls he was carrying. He gasped with shock and grumbled as he picked them back up and went on his way, ignoring purrs from his fellow students. Joo Dee waved goodbye as he went, but Goldwing turned around to give her a confused look.

What was going on with the cats of BoulderClan? They seemed too scared to tell them about what happened to Archie, and now they were too scared to mention the war. Who, or what, was making them scared and silent at the same time? And more importantly, could their mission be halted for a little bit until they get some clues?

**...**

Giving up for the day, Goldwing and his friends had decided to go back home and wait for a little bit. Along the way, they had asked other cats about if they knew anything about Archie or the war. But so far, there was no answer coming from them.

When they arrived home, the four cats let out a yawn, padded up to the steps, and turned around to see Joo Dee behind them. She had dropped them off from the carriage and said wanted to have a bit of a word with them. Goldwing wondered what Joo Dee wanted now.

"I'm sorry no one has seen your dragon," the brown tabby she-cat meowed. "How about you four go inside and have a little rest. Someone will arrive with dinner later on."

Goldwing nodded while his friends watched as the carriage drove off. After that, they saw a dark gray-&-white tom in the house across from them peeking through a window at them. He looked very curious as he kept looking at them.

Looking like he had an idea, Ashfeather jerked his head to the house, mewing, "Follow me. I got an idea."

Goldwing, Silverheart, and Nightpaw traded muddled looks with one another before following the dark gray tabby tom across the street. When they arrived at the house, Ashfeather rose onto two legs and knocked on the door with ease. And as soon as he got back down, the dark gray-&-white tom appeared and opened the door, smiling at them.

"So you're the Avatar Cat!" the tom meowed to Goldwing, dipping his head low in respect. "I heard you arrived in town this morning. My name's Piketail."

"Good to meet you too," Goldwing replied, nodding back to him.

Ashfeather stopped the talking by meowing, "So Piketail, what the hell is going on with the cats of this city? Why's everyone so scared to talk about the war?"

However, Piketail's yellow eyes darted from side to side as he replied, "War? Scared? What're you meowing about?"

"I can feel your paws shaking," Nightpaw replied. "Surely something's up?"

"Look, I'm just a minor government official. I've waited for three years to get this house. I don't want to get into trouble," Piketail meowed, looking about to make sure no one was watching.

"Get into trouble with whom?" Silverheart asked curiously.

But Piketail hissed for them to quiet down before rasping, "Listen. You can't talk about the War behind these walls. And whatever you do, _stay away from the Tai Kwan._"

And with that said, the tomcat shut the door in front of their faces.

Goldwing and his friends stared at one another in confusion. This cat seemed to be too scared to help for some strange reason. There had to be someone behind making all the cats quiet down and not talk about Archie or the War.

**...**

It was now sunset, and, from a veranda in the shadows and hiding behind a chimney, Flash was spying on the FireBenders in the apartment across from him. He could see them clearly through the windows on both sides of the room, and he shifted his gaze to either side as they talked. The brown-&-orange tom felt his claws sink into the tiles beneath his paw pads; he was eager to catch these two in FireBending.

When the talking ceased, Flash came out of his thoughts and looked back through the window. The fat gray tabby elder was standing by a counter with a pot while the dark brown tabby tom was lying on a folding nest.

"Would you like a bowl of cream, nephew?" Warthog asked Moss.

"No," the dark brown tabby rogue snarled. "We've been working at a cream shop all day long! I'm sick of that shit!"

Warthog had a look of offense on his flat face. "Sick of cream! It's like being sick of breathing!" He began rummaging through the cupboard beneath the counter. "Have you seen our spark rocks to heat up the cream?"

"They're not here," Flash muttered to himself, holding two bright green spark rocks beneath his paws; he had stolen them while they were out. "You'll have to FireBend now, old cat."

But to his shock, Warthog got up and began walking to the door. Flash hissed, "Hey! Where the hell is he going?"

"I borrowed our next door neighbor's spark rocks," the elder was meowing to his nephew. "Such a nice cat."

He struck the spark rocks together near the small pile of twigs beneath the pot. They quickly ignited, and a small flame was created, ready to heat up cream.

Letting out a low hiss of frustration, Flash ducked behind the clothesline and left. Later would perhaps be best to catch them.

**...**

Morning had arrived, and a wild blue jay was singing happily in the trees. Silverheart padded out the front door, stretching and yawning. Being at this house made her feel like a kittypet, and she wondered if this was one of the only things a kittypet would do. She had heard tales about these cats; she even heard of kittypets becoming Clan cats and proving their worth.

The silver she-cat grabbed a roll of papers sticking out of a mail slot attached to the wall. Lying it down on the ground, she opened the letter and read through it briefly, gasping with excitement. She had found a new way to speak with the leader.

She let out a squeal of joy before running back inside. The other four cats were lounging around the upper part of the living room.

"I've got it," she yowled loudly, starling them into being fully awake. "I know how we can see the leader of BoulderClan!"

"But how do we do that?" Nightpaw asked her mentor. Mimicking Joo Dee's voice, she added, "After all, 'one doesn't just drop in on our leader.'"

Silverheart rolled her eyes and muttered, "Okay, besides that. The EarthClan leader is hosting a birthday party at his palace tonight for his pet platypus bear."

"You mean grizzly bear?" Goldwing asked.

"No," Silverheart replied. "It says he has a platypus bear."

Ashfeather spoke up, "Surely you mean his polar bear?"

Nightpaw piped up, "Or black bear."

Goldwing tried again, "Sun bear?"

"No," Silverheart replied. "He has a platypus bear."

There was a pause, then...

"This place is _weird_," Nightpaw finally meowed.

After yet another moment of silence, Silverheart decided to break the ice. "So anyways," she began, "that palace will be packed. We can sneak through the crowd while they're distracted."

"Won't work," Nightpaw sighed, lying down.

Silverheart tilted her head to one side. "Why not?"

Nightpaw sat up and replied, "No offense to you wildcats, but a real society crowd would spot you from a tree-length away. You've got no manners," she added before grabbing a mouse from a hole and started eating it with her mouth open.

"Excuse us? _We're_ the ones with no manners?" Silverheart asked her apprentice with disbelief. "You're not exactly a soft pile of fur in the snow yourself."

The small black she-cat let out a massive burp before retorting, "I learned proper behavior and chose to leave it." She threw the half eaten mouse off to the side, making Silverheart bristle; it was wrong to waste prey. Nightpaw started picking her nose with her claw and meowed, "You never learned anything. And honestly, I think it may be too late."

"But you learned it. You could teach us," Ashfeather reminded her.

"That's right," Goldwing added. "I'm trying to master every element. How hard could manners be ?"

He grabbed a nearby curtain, draped it around his golden body like a nobleman's robe, and began talking in a classy manner. "Good even, Mr. Ashfeather WaterClan. Ms. Silverheart WaterClan. Lord Tobias of the Hawk Dynasty, your hawk-ness."

"Avatar Cat Goldwing, how you _do_ go on," Ashfeather played along, mimicking a high class snob.

Goldwing bowed to the dark gray tabby, and Ashfeather bowed back. The golden cat tried to outdo his friend's bow with a deeper bow, and Ashfeather returned this bow with an even deeper bow. Both of them tried to bow at the same time, but they knocked each other's heads' together like rams and fell backward.

_Toms, _Silverheart sighed.

"Silverheart might pull this off," Nightpaw mewed. "But as for you two dumbasses, you might get lucky if get to be servants."

"But I feel fancy already!" Ashfeather whined.

At this, the same blue jay flew in through the window and landed on the WaterClan warrior's head. All four Clan cats looked at it with confusion while it looked back at them. It looked down at Ashfeather, lifted up its tail feathers, and made its dirt on his head. Ashfeather glared up at the bird through the mess dripping down, but the jay flew off, chirping a warning.

**...**

It was dusk now, and the lights inside the house were lit. While Silverheart and her apprentice went to prepare for the party, the toms decided to wait for them and play a game. They were playing a game that was like the Twoleg version of rock-paper-scissors. So far, Goldwing was winning.

"Earth!" Goldwing called out, clenching his paw together.

"Fire! Yeah!" Ashfeather called out, waggling his paw about. But Goldwing tapped his friend's paw hard with his own, making him yowl, "Ouch!"

The dark gray tabby tom pulled his paw back and began licking it furiously, sore about his loss. Goldwing let out a yowl of triumph before cuffing Ashfeather on the ears.

Suddenly, Silverheart's voice mewed, "We're ready, you two. How do we look?"

Goldwing turned around to see the door to the bedrooms open slowly. But what he saw next made his jaws drop open wide and his eyes almost bug out.

**(AvatarCat12: {Blushing hard} This is my favorite part on the entire episode. I've wanted to write this part down for so long!)**

**(Aang: {He and Katara kiss quickly} This is our favorite part too.)**

Silverheart and Nightpaw were standing before them, wearing gorgeous EarthClan dresses for she-cats. Their head fur was tied around diadems decorated with emerald flowers, and both of them were wearing makeup for cats. Mentor and apprentice looked at the toms calmly before giving in to a fit of giggles.

Goldwing felt his cheeks burn red and his heart race as he stared dreamily at the sight of the two she-cats. He didn't blush much towards Nightpaw, for he had seen her in a light like that before. But Silverheart was a different story; he felt his four-moon crush resurface as he saw her in this light. As usual, she seemed to know what to do to attract him.

"Great StarClan..." he rasped when he kept looking at the silver-furred she-cat. "Silverheart, you look..." He searched for the right words before finally mewing, "...you look beautiful."

Ashfeather reached a paw over to the golden AirClan warrior and gave him a hard cuff on the side of his head. But Goldwing ignored the paw hitting his head; he felt like his eyes were glued on the she-cats. He had never seen such a beautiful sight in his life, though he did see something familiar two or three moons ago.

"Oh, thank you, Goldwing! That's so sweet!" Silverheart purred, padding up to him in a very seductive manner and licking him on the cheek. Goldwing looked into her blue eyes, studying her amazing beauty, as he felt his heart race faster than ever.

"Hey, no talking to the common strays," Nightpaw instructed her mentor, padding in between them. "That's the first rule of society."

Silverheart gave a small sigh before meowing to the toms, "We'll get in the party, and then we'll find a way to let you in through the side gate. As long as we don't get distracted, of course."

Nightpaw began routing her away from the toms and padded out the door swiftly. The two toms looked on as the she-cats left the house in a hurry. If it was true, Goldwing and Ashfeather would be able to sneak a way into the party without suspicion.

A haughty caw made the toms turn to see Tobias before them. The red-tailed hawk was strutting around like a rooster, wearing a dark bottle green curtain around his body. Tobias looked at the two cats and gave another haughty caw before marching away from them. Goldwing exchanged looks with Ashfeather, who just shrugged at him in reply.

**...**

An officer prowled in through the door of the cream shop while a guard prowled in through the door. Flash hissed lowly as he backed away from the cream shop and snuck into an alley, where he perched on top of a box of potatoes. If only those guards would move out of the way, then he would catch those FireClan cats in FireBending.

Shuffling noises behind Flash told him that two more cats were joining him on top of the box. He unsheathed his claws, ready to defend himself against the intruding newcomer.

"We have to talk, Flash," Hornet's voice mewed with frustration. "Now."

"Eh? Oh, it's you two," Flash replied, retracting his claws. He looked about to see Hornet gazing up at him with exasperation while Spearhead had the usual grave look on his face. "Where have you guys been? I could use some help with tailing here."

Hornet gave a breath of resolve before meowing, "That's what we wanted to talk to you about. Flash...Spearhead and I've been talking for a bit, and we're starting to get worried for you. We think you've been too obsessed with this. It's not healthy for you."

The leader of the Freedom Fighters glared at her. "Really? You really think that?"

Spearhead leapt onto the box next to his comrades and laid a paw on Hornet's shoulder. Flash knew that gesture; that usually meant he was in an agreement.

"We came here to make a fresh start, remember? But you won't let this go!" Hornet spat at her leader. Flicking her tail at the cream shop, the dark tortoiseshell she-cat growled, "Even though there's no real proof, you're acting like an ass over it!"

"If you two help me out with this, we can let this go!" Flash barked at her.

Hornet shook her head in vexation. "Flash, you have to stop it! Who know what'll happen if you keep it up?"

Flash growled, "Then you know nothing of why we need to start over. Have you forgotten how FireClan left us all homeless? How they killed all those we loved?" Their faces didn't change, so he hissed, "Fine. If you won't help me, I'll get the evidence on my own."

Spearhead and Hornet lowered their heads in shame. Ignoring their humiliation, Flash leapt off the box and started prowling towards the cream shop.

**...**

Irontail purred as he poured a bowl of cream for a tickled silver tom that prowled into the shop earlier. So far, things were looking bright, even though Bearclaw was still acting grumpy like a bear woken from its nap. But for now, Irontail decided to not worry about it and help serve these cats some cream.

The tickled silver tom lapped up some cream and widened his eyes. "Great StarClan above! This is the best cream in all of BoulderClan!"

"Ah, but the secret rare ingredient is love," Irontail purred in reply.

The warrior's tail lashed from left to right in joy as he picked up the bowl in his jaws and padded off. Irontail waved his tail through the steam coming from the pot and padded to behind the counter, where the owner was. Bearclaw looked up from serving a customer and followed his uncle, giving his uncle a confused look.

"Ah, there you are, Warthog!" the cream-furred owner greeted Irontail. "I've been thinking hard and I've come to a conclusion. You've been working very hard yesterday and today, and I think it's time you got a raise!"

Not a second later, however, a cat burst into the shop, his brown-&-ginger striped fur bristling and his claws unsheathed. It was Flash, the leader of the Freedom Fighters they met along the way to BoulderClan.

"I'm tired of waiting," Flash was hissing softly. Out loud and pointing his muzzle at Bearclaw and Irontail, he spat, "Everyone! Those two cats are FireBenders!"

Their attention fixed on the Freedom Fighter, every cat backed away to see what would happen. Flash fished out two hook swords from his bag and planted his forepaws into the floor, looking prepared to fight. His amber eyes were glowing with a fanatic manner, and his fur was constantly bristling.

Uncle and nephew quickly exchanged a look, unsure of what to do. How in StarClan did Flash know they were FireClan cats? If so, why would he want to attack them right in the middle of the cream shop with cats watching? And Irontail knew they couldn't FireBend, or he and Bearclaw would be thrown out of the city, thus making their path to inner peace harder.

_What shall we do, great spirits of StarClan?_

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"I know those cats are FireBenders!" Flash snarled, still standing in the doorway as everyone stared at him. "I saw the old gray tabby heat up his bowl of cream!"

Bearclaw stared back at Flash, unable to believe it. It WAS true that Flash saw Irontail heating up his bowl of cream with others probably watching. He silently cursed his uncle for doing a very mouse-brained thing like that.

"But he works at this cream shop," the tickled silver tom protested.

Flash whirled around at him, spitting, "They're FireClan cats, I tell you!"

The tickled silver tom sighed, stood up with his fellow warriors, and meowed, "Drop the swords, son. Nice and easy there."

One brown tabby rushed forward to bite him on the throat. Instead, the brown-&-ginger striped tom leapt over him and landed on the other side, his claws sinking into the floor.

"You'll have to defend your own hide, you know," Flash hissed at Bearclaw and Irontail. "Then everyone will know the truth. Go on! Show them what you can do!"

Bearclaw felt his fur bristle when the Freedom Fighter began prowling towards him and his uncle. Flash had no right to burst in here and disturb everyone, even accusing them of something what Irontail did. There was only one thing to do in a situation like this: fight.

Another warrior, a gray tabby-&-ginger, was ready to fight, his claws unsheathing. But before he could get any farther, Bearclaw leaped forward and placed himself up at front.

"If you want a fight, you piece of shit, I'll _give_ you a fight," he snarled.

He grabbed the warrior's two daggers from their sheathes and spun them around. And the fight began right away.

Bearclaw padded over to an empty chair and kicked it right at Flash. The rogue tom sliced his hook swords into it and leapt over it. As he landed, Flash swung both hook swords at Bearclaw, who repelled the attack and jumped back on to a table. Flash swung a sword through the middle of the table, slicing it in half. Bearclaw leaped onto one half of the table and balanced on one back paw.

Flash followed the attack by cutting through the legs on the half of the table the large dark tabby was standing on. As quick as a snake, Bearclaw jumped onto the other half that was still standing and landed in a crane stance. Flash shoved this half to the ground, but Bearclaw sprang into the air and swung his claws at his foe's forepaws as he landed. But Flash leaped over him and landed in a crouching position before charging forward at Bearclaw again. The FireClan tom countered this by meeting him with claws and fangs, ending up in the two toms rolling about and fighting fang and claw.

**...**

Nightpaw sniffed the air as she and Silverheart padded down the street to the party. She could smell lots of cats nearby by the time she and her mentor arrived at the palace gate. Quite a lot of high class cats were already lined up and being admitted inside by a guard. He was checking out the invitation of one group before letting them pass.

At last, Nightpaw and Silverheart were next in line and moved toward the guard. Hoping that Silverheart would remember her apprentice's advice, Nightpaw stepped forward.

"Invitation, please," the guard instructed.

"Will this do?" Nightpaw asked him, handing him her family zeal for him to see.

But to her dismay, the guard meowed, "No invitation, no entry. Step out of line, please."

Feeling very irritated, Nightpaw hissed, "Look here, frog-brain. The Pangs and the Hans are waiting in there for us. I'll tell them you didn't let me in."

"Step out of line, please," the guard repeated, the sound of his tail whisking in the air.

Nightpaw gave a deep growl of disappointment and stalked away. The same emotion radiating from her pelt, Silverheart followed her apprentice away from the palace gate. How dare those cats reject them from the party, even after that trick at the Great White Pass worked! If they wanted to play nasty, then Nightpaw would play nasty back at them.

Suddenly, the sound of a carriage grabbed their attention. Nightpaw could smell a new cat just arriving, a high ranking government official stepping out of the carriage. And for some reason, there was a scent of slyness coming off from Silverheart's fur.

"What the hell are you thinking about?" Nightpaw asked her. "And what does the cat look like?"

"This cat has a reddish-brown pelt," Silverheart replied, ignoring the first question. "He has a black mane a bit like a lion's, and he has yellowish-green eyes."

Padding away from her, the silver she-cat approached the new cat, mewing in a very sweet voice, "Excuse us, sir." When the new cat stopped, Silverheart flicked her tail to Nightpaw and mewed, "I apologize if I'm bothering you, but my cousin lost our passports. Don't remind her, but she's blind. Can you help us? Our family's inside, and I'm sure they're very worried."

"Of course. I would be honored," the tom purred, his mew deep and hearty. "Follow me, please."

Then the reddish-brown tom prowled towards the guard at the entrance with the two she-cats following closely. The guard bowed to him without stopping the two she-cats, and the three of them headed into the palace. As they were walking in, Nightpaw and Silverheart stuck their tongues out at the guard while his back was turned.

**...**

Once the she-cats made it inside the palace, Silverheart gasped at the phenomenon inside. Many guests are conversing around a long dining table with an assortment of foods placed upon it. At one end of the table was an animal eating a steak, drool dripping of its chin. But Silverheart saw that it was the strangest animal she had seen so far.

The animal had the body of a bear, complete with the bear ears and a white V-shaped patch on its chest. But it had the beady black eyes of a platypus, the duck-like bill, and the webbed forepaws, which probably meant it had the back paws of the platypus. It was dressed in a yellow shirt and a green hat. Seated to either side of him were two guests, two toms of different shades of gray.

"Can you believe it? He's taking all the good stuff!" the dark gray tom hissed.

"Shut the hell up!" the other tom, a mottled gray tabby, hissed back. "You know how much I did to have a seat next to the platypus bear?"

The platypus bear swiped what remained of the steak into the first guest's face before pouncing onto the table and eating a large fish in front of him very greedily. It looked away as Silverheart, Nightpaw, and the reddish-brown tomcat padded past it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the reddish-brown tom meowed, flicking his tail around the room. "Oh, I am Longfang, by the way. I am a social priest to our leader and the deputy of BoulderClan."

"My name is Yuki, and my cousin's name is Dung," Silverheart replied.

Nightpaw gave her a hard glare before pulling on a strand of hair from her head fur, making her squeak in surprise. When she turned to give her apprentice a glare, the black cat just smiled up at her innocently.

Longfang interfered by meowing, "Now where is your family? I would like to meet them."

Silverheart exchanged a look with Nightpaw, who nodded. Then she answered Longfang, "Uh, I don't see them right now. But I'm sure they'll come looking for us. Thank you for helping us."

The deputy nodded before the she-cats padded away from him and to the party. But no sooner than a few seconds Silverheart and Nightpaw left, Longfang suddenly appeared right in front of them.

"Don't worry, young cats," Longfang meowed, smiling and showing pure white teeth. "As your escort, it would be disgraceful to abandon you ladies without finding your families first. We can keep looking right away."

Silverheart exchanged a worried glance with Nightpaw; unable to know what to say. She almost felt like telling Longfang they could find "their families" on their own, but she thought it would be too rude. Besides, this was the BoulderClan deputy she and her apprentice were talking to. It would be considered disrespectful to refuse a deputy's help.

_It's just all part of the Warrior Code._

So she and Nightpaw gave up and followed Longfang through the party.

**...**

Outside the palace, there were two guards stationed at the gates. Goldwing peeked around the pedestal of a statue of a lion. He and Ashfeather had been peeking around both sides of the pedestal, waiting for Silverheart and Nightpaw to come out and give them the news.

"Where the hell are they?" Goldwing hissed silently.

However, one of the guards had heard him and turned to see if he was there. The golden cat and Ashfeather ducked behind the pedestal to keep themselves from being seen. Tobias was beside his master, looking from left to right at the two cats.

"Hey, I came up with a backup plan," Ashfeather began, grabbing Tobias under the wings with his forepaws and waving him about. "We can dress Tobias up like a ghost, right? He flies by the guards creating a distraction, and then we blast a hole in the wall with EarthBending..."

But Goldwing stood up and looked over from behind the pedestal. Passing by them were two cats, both brown cats, padding into the palace. Trays and napkins were balanced on their heads and they were wearing black-&-white suits.

"...or we can go in with those two," Goldwing mewed to Ashfeather, showing him the two cats. "Nightpaw _did_ say we might pass as servants."

A carriage with a horse pulling it was parking right outside the palace. The two servants stopped there and unloaded several stuff onto the trays before padding back into the palace. Goldwing looked up at Ashfeather, hoping he would go along with the plan instead of the ghost plan.

_It's worth a try._

"You win," Ashfeather meowed grumpily, Tobias perched on his head. "But I'm still in favor with the ghost plan. It sounds like a winner."

**...**

Bearclaw burst through the cream shop door and tumbled out into the street, his remaining ear bleeding. Flash ran after him, mouth dripping out of this mouth, and spun around before striking at Bearclaw with both swords. The dark brown tabby, the stockier of the two, managed to block the strike and both combatants locked swords.

Disregarding the look of shock on Irontail's face, Bearclaw kept up the fight as blow after blow struck his head. In response, he kept trying to swipe his claws at Flash's scars on his face, but the Freedom Fight kept dodging those. After that, Flash let out a loud yowl and sprang at Bearclaw, knocking him to the ground and pinning him down.

"Are you tired from using those swords and claws?" Flash hissed into Bearclaw's ear. "You can go ahead and use FireBending at me if you'd like."

Bearclaw let out a roar, kicking Flash off of him and getting to his paws. Both toms leapt at each other and struggled at clawing each other before breaking off and stalking to the side of the shop. Irontail was standing in the doorway and watching, worried. Swords clanging, fighters grunting, and blood splattering the side of the shop were the only sounds heard.

Irontail was calling, "Please, son, you're just confused. You don't know what you're doing!"

But Flash ignored him. So Bearclaw swiped a sword at Flash, but the brown-&-ginger rogue tom caught his broad sword with his fangs, spun about, and deflected it to the side. So Bearclaw spun with it and tried to counterattack, but Flash hooked the ends of his two swords together and lashed them at the dark tabby in large circular motions. Bearclaw retreated back a few rabbit-hops to avoid the bladed hilt.

Flash faced him with a sneer on his face. "I think he'll help you out with a few fire blasts or two, don't you think?"

However, as he swung at his enemy's paws, Bearclaw stabbed one of his broad swords through the hilt, pinning it to the ground. Flash glared at it with anger before looking back at Bearclaw.

"_You're _the one who needs help, _friend_," Bearclaw retorted, spitting the last word out like a curse word.

Both fighters were down to one sword each and claws. Flash lowered his stuck hook sword and withdrew a rabbit-hop. He turned in a circle and tried to swipe at Bearclaw, who quickly moved forward and swiped his claws at Flash in a horizontal motion. The striped tom saw his attack just in time to bend backward and avoid his foe's claws. Bearclaw's talons sliced over Flash, cutting the wheat straw sticking out of his mouth in half.

Flash regained balance and jumped backward on to the edge of a well. By now, several cats were gathering in the street watching the fight.

"Does everyone see that?" Flash called to the cats. "FireClan's trying to silence me! But that will never happen! You hear me!"

Bearclaw snarled "Shut up, you bastard!" and leapt up at him. But Flash grabbed onto the beam above the well with his jaws and swung forward at Bearclaw, attacking him with a flying kick. The large dark brown tabby tom grabbed onto his back paw with his jaws and pulled him back onto the ground.

**...**

After a few more minutes, Goldwing and Ashfeather had finally snuck into the palace, wearing black-&-white suits like the servants. Nightpaw was right; they were able to get into the party by acting as servants. Tobias, meanwhile, hid under the hat that Goldwing was wearing; it was also the same hat one of the servants was wearing. At first, they were tempted to dye their fur to a different color, but they would already be disguised.

Once inside the palace, the two toms immediately began serving some of the cats who asked for them. Goldwing was pouring some wine for a mated couple while Ashfeather was serving some roast rabbit on a plate. As the two toms took a short break and stood back-to-back, Tobias poked his red tail feathers out from under Goldwing's hat.

"Where are Silverheart and Nightpaw at?" Goldwing hissed from the corner of his mouth.

"Dunno," Ashfeather rasped back out of the corner of _his _mouth. "Just forget about them for a little bit. Look for the leader of BoulderClan."

Tobias shifted around under Goldwing's hat until he was facing the other way. Then he took the chance to waggle his tail feathers in front of Ashfeather's face.

Goldwing felt Tobias' tail feather tickle his neck fur as he replied, "I don't know what he even looks like."

Ashfeather rolled his eyes, snatched a tail feather from Tobias' tail, and hissed, "Very royal, flowing cape, fancy jewelry...you know!"

Taking that kind of advice, Goldwing looked around the room. But all the cats in the party fitted in with what Ashfeather described. So far, this piece of advice had weakened.

"I hate to tell you this, but anyone in here could be this," the Avatar Cat told his friend.

"Another roast rabbit leg, please."

Goldwing recognized that young female voice right away. There was Nightpaw, looking up at him and still looking fancy in her party makeover.

"You found us," he whispered with relief.

Nightpaw replied, "I can feel your light pawsteps anywhere, Twinkletoes."

Ashfeather gave the EarthClan apprentice a grin and submitted the rabbit dish to her. Nightpaw gave her mentor's brother a smile in return and took a leg from the platter, chewing on it right away. Recalling how Ashfeather ate an entire bowl of shrimp puffs a few moons ago, Goldwing purred.

Just as he thought that, Silverheart padded up to the group, giving Goldwing a bright smile. The AirClan warrior felt his cheeks go hot when he saw the sight of her standing in the moonlight. He had briefly forgotten how beautiful she looked this night.

But before he could tell her once again that she looked beautiful, Ashfeather stepped in, growling sarcastically, "Thanks for letting us in, you two."

"Sorry," Silverheart mewed, ignoring her apprentice's glare. "But the cat who escorted us in here wouldn't let us out of his sight. It's like being watched by an owl."

"What cat?" Ashfeather meowed, looking over her shoulder.

"Silverheart told me he had a reddish-brown pelt and a black mane like a lion," Nightpaw put in. "And she also told me he has yellowish-green eyes."

Goldwing joined in with looking for this cat, standing on his hind legs for a better look. But so far, he couldn't find a cat with that exact pelt color. As far as this, there were only pelts with color shades of gray, ginger, or brown with either black or white mixed in. But there was yet another cat he saw: Joo Dee.

The brown tabby she-cat was padding towards them, but she looked quite strange despite the creepy smile. Her normally cheerful demeanor was replaced with anxiety as she hissed with desperation, "What are you four doing here? You must leave now, or we will all be in trouble!" And she tried to make them leave by pushing Ashfeather away.

"No," the dark gray tabby warrior retorted, moderately shoving her away. "Not until we see your leader."

Joo Dee shook her head, hissing, "You don't understand. You have to leave."

She padded forward and pushed Ashfeather into Goldwing by accident. The golden Avatar Cat ended up accidentally spilling the contents of the pitcher he was holding onto a tortoiseshell guest. This made the tortoiseshell she-cat yowl with shock when all the wine spilled onto her pelt.

"Sorry! And please don't shout!" Goldwing reassured her.

He rose onto his hind legs and clapped his forepaws together to AirBend a small gust of wind at the guest. In doing so, however, his hat was blown off, along with a cawing Tobias. The she-cat was now all dried up, but it also turned her tortoiseshell fur, robes, and makeup into a mess.

Goldwing blushed with pure embarrassment as he saw what he did. This was not how he and his friends wanted to reveal themselves to the other guests. He looked over at the tortoiseshell she-cat and prepared himself for a round of harsh scolding.

Instead, the she-cat smiled brightly as she squealed in awe, "You're the Avatar Cat! I didn't know the Avatar Cat would be here!"

All the guests' attention was now focused on the golden-furred cat. Joo Dee's large happy smile quickly turned sour and was replaced by a frown and a look of dread. Goldwing looked around at the guests as Tobias hid back under the hat on the floor and slunk away. Goldwing just blushed and waved at the crowd, laughing nervously.

_This is REALLY not part of this damn plan!_

Ashfeather leaned in to his friend and whispered, "Distract everyone while I look for the leader."

"All right. Got it," Goldwing whispered. To everyone, he called, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey listen up! Check this out!"

He leaped out of his servant robes and on to the long dining table as Ashfeather slunk off into the crowd. Goldwing swung his left forepaw over the guests' drinks in a swiping action, Bending the wine out of the chalices. He leapt onto a pitcher and balanced on it like a cat on a wall, bringing the liquid above his head and creating a swirling rainbow ball. The crowd gaped and cheered at the spectacle.

A very un-catlike growl told Goldwing that an animal was clapping its forepaws together in joy as it watched him. It was a very strange-looking animal; it had the body and ears of a bear with a white V-shaped chest, but it had the forepaws, beady eyes, and bill of a platypus. This was the leader's platypus bear that Silverheart was talking about. And so far, it was looking entertained.

Purring at the huge beast, Goldwing leapt over to its table and started balancing the ball on his tail, making it roar happily.

**...**

Bearclaw growled as he swung his claws at Flash. Flash deflected the attack with his own hook sword and stepped to the FireClan cat's side and the two ended up back-to-back. The two toms attempted to strike at the opponent behind them, but neither could get past the other's defense.

"Drop your weapons! Break it up!"

The two tomcats leaped apart as they stopped the fight, but they continued glaring at one another. Flash's right ear was torn clean off while Bearclaw was holding his left foreleg at an odd angle; he had sprained it when he and Flash wrestled with one another at the well. And their pelts were covered in a lot of blood due to their bloody wounds.

Several cats were running towards them, wearing green robes on their pelts. Bearclaw recalled what Irontail told him about these cats; these were the police warriors of BoulderClan: the Tai Kwan. Obeying the warriors, the large dark brown tabby tom dropped his sword, but Flash just pointed his sword at him and Irontail.

"Place those two under arrest," Flash panted, sounding tired after the vicious fight. "They're FireBenders."

"This poor unfortunate soul is confused," Irontail protested, pure truth in his words. "We're just immigrants, that's all."

"Excuse me!" the cream-furred cream shop owner yowled. "This young cat damaged my cream shop and attacked my employees!"

The tickled silver tom from earlier added, "That's right, sir. I saw it with my own two eyes! That crazy son of a bitch attacked the best cream-maker in the city!"

Irontail dropped the worried manner and purred, "Oh ho ho, that's a very nice thing to say."

One of the warriors, a pale tabby tom, nodded and faced Flash, growling, "Come with us, son."

Instead, Flash glared at the warriors angrily and swung his sword at them, but the pale tabby tom caught it in jaws of stone. Then the warrior smashed Flash to the ground, and both warrior cats pulled the young tom's legs near each other, binding his paws together using some stones on the pad of their paws. They dragged Flash away towards a wagon designed for holding felons.

"You don't understand!" Bearclaw heard Flash howl. "They're FireClan cats! Please! You have to believe me!"

Bearclaw limped over to his uncle as both toms watched Flash being pushed into the wagon. At this, all the cats on the street began to scatter, droning about either the cream or the battle. Flash looked around the pale tabby tom to glare at Bearclaw before the doors slammed shut. The cats left in the street watched the wagon roll away.

Looking in the crowd, Bearclaw could see two familiar cats: Spearhead and Hornet. The two cats of the Freedom Fighters looked on, hidden within the crowd, before quietly padding out of sight.

**...**

"Goldwing! Look!"

Goldwing looked up from amusing the platypus bear with WaterBending to see Ashfeather looking over at him. The dark gray tabby tom was flicking his tail towards the back of the room with a determined look on his face. Standing on his hind legs, Goldwing looked around to see what was going on.

There, at the back of the room, were two lines of guards padding into the hall. Eight guards were carrying a curtained platform while the cat inside, possibly the leader, looked outside. He has a young pointed gray-&-white face and narrow bright green eyes. A pair of round spectacles rested on his nose, and he was dressed in traditional EarthClan colors and patterns.

The crowd looked on in admiration as they marveled in the presence of their host and leader. In the meantime, Ashfeather began sneaking through the crowd and attempted to get a better view of the leader of EarthClan. Not wanting to miss this, Goldwing created some Air Paws and ran on over to the leader.

"Greetings, sir!" Goldwing yowled, leaping into the air and ready to land onto the nearest table.

Three guests pulled their food and drinks off the table before the young AirClan warrior ran over them with his Air Paws. The platform was carried off while a line of guards prowled up to the long dining table. But however, he had no idea what was going on behind him.

Ashfeather had just broken out of the crowd and was racing after the crowd of warriors prowling by. But all of a sudden, two Tai Kwan cats grabbed him and began leading him away, pulling his head away from his paws.

"Hey! Let me go!" the WaterClan warrior spat, struggling to get free.

A black Tai Kwan cat stepped out from behind a pillar and threw his forepaws out, causing the stones covering his paws to fly forward. While Silverheart looked away, the stone paws of the Tai Kwan cat caught Nightpaw and pulled her backward, covering her mouth to shut her up. A second later, another pair of stone paws grabbed Silverheart and pulled her away as well.

Tobias was still hiding under the servant hat and trying to sneak past, his tail feathers sticking out from under. A ginger tabby Tai Kwan cat reached down and pulled the hat off. Tobias looked up with surprise before scooting a few mouse-leaps away.

Goldwing had finally reached the other end of the dining table on his Air Paws, knocking over several dishes. He made the Air Paws vanish and held his tail up in triumph. At this gesture, the other guests started applauding him with cheers and chants of his name.

As the warriors marched on, a red-brown tom with a black lion-like mane and yellow-green eyes broke off from behind the line of warriors and padded towards Goldwing. _This must be the cat who let Silverheart and Nightpaw into the party_, Goldwing thought. When this cat spotted him, he dipped his head towards him.

"Hello, Avatar Cat," the red-brown tom began, his voice deep and polite. "It is a great honor to meet you at last. I am Longfang, grand secretary and deputy of BoulderClan and Head of the Tai Kwan. I'd like to have a word with you if you don't mind. You will find me and your unharmed friends in the library."

Longfang jerked his head to behind him; it was a gesture for Goldwing to follow him. But the young golden cat hesitated for a bit; would it be safe for him to talk with a stranger when his friends had disappeared? But Longfang did say his friends were okay and waiting for him in the library. If so, then this cat would be okay to talk to.

So Goldwing nodded and leaped off the table and followed the deputy out of the room.

**...**

Goldwing looked around him and tried not to blush when Silverheart's fur brushed against his. The library was quite large and comfortable, unlike Wan Shi Tong's library, which was too big and confusing. The four Clan cats faced Longfang, who was sitting in front of a fireplace that lit the area up with a green flame.

"Why the hell won't you let us talk to your leader?" Ashfeather growled at Longfang. "We have some information that could beat FireClan for good!"

Longfang yawned, showing pearly white fangs. "Our leader Cavestar has no time to be involved in political quarrels and the minutia of military activities."

"This could be the most vital thing he's ever heard!" Goldwing insisted.

"What's more vital to our leader is maintaining the cultural heritage of BoulderClan," Longfang retorted. "All his duties relate to issuing rulings on such matters. It's _my_ job to supervise the rest of the city's resources, including the military."

Silverheart stared on in shock. "So Cavestar's just a figurehead?"

"He's just a puppet to you!" Nightpaw spat with fury. Goldwing wondered if she was angry due to being sheltered by her kittypet parents all the time.

Longfang shook his head and forepaw back and forth, mewing frivolously, "Oh no, no! Cavestar is an icon, a deity to his Clan. He can't slander his paws with the hourly change of an endless war."

Ashfeather spoke up, "We found out about a solar eclipse that will leave FireClan helpless! You could lead an invasion against them and-"

"Enough! I wish to no longer hear your idiotic idea!" Longfang spat, standing up very suddenly; he now looked rather stern. So Ashfeather looked down to the floor, a confused and hurt look on his face.

Longfang went on sternly, "It is the strict policy of BoulderClan that the war is to not ever be brought up within the walls. Constant news of an escalating war will throw our cats into a state of panic. A panic we might not recover from."

Suddenly, in Goldwing's eyes, the scene faded to white and shifted to a dark, stone room. A ray of light shone through under a door. The door slid open, and two cats dragged a struggling tom inside, sitting him in a stone chair at the other side. They tied his paws and tail down using some square stones like the stones making the Tai Kwan's rock paws.

_What're these cats going to do with him? _Goldwing thought with dread.

"Those are FireBenders! You have to believe me!" the bound cat was screeching. "They won't stop killing us all until they win the war!"

Goldwing willed for the cat to go on, wondering where he heard that voice from before. But a few square stones circled his head and clamped down on his skull, holding it in place. A shiver of dread shook Goldwing's entire body.

"Don't worry. You're safe now," one cat meowed to the prisoner.

The Tai Kwan cat stood in front of the prisoner, surrounded by a metal track. From behind him appeared a small orange lantern attached to the track. It traveled around the track and passed the gray eyes of Goldwing as fast as a rabbit. At the same time, he could hear Longfang's voice drill into his mind like the Drill digging into the city wall.

"The economy of the city would be ruined," the deputy's voice was echoing. "Our peaceful way of life and our traditions would disappear."

While hearing this, Goldwing could hear the Tai Kwan cat meow, "There is no war in the city."

The prisoner spat, "What're you talking about, dumbass? Where do you think all the refugees came from? You can't hide it!"

But he and Goldwing could only watch on as the lamp passed by the cat's face, revealing a scarred face. Goldwing thought this was someone he knew, but he was so covered in blood that he was unrecognizable.

Longfang's voice echoed again, "In stopping talk of struggle, BoulderClan remains a peaceful orderly paradise. The last one StarClan has given us."

Goldwing heard his friends gasp with horror and shock, but he was whisked away and brought back to the prisoner in his vision. A circle stone was now covering his mouth as the lamp passed by his eyes yet again.

The Tai Kwan cat that brought over the lamp stood before the prisoner and meowed, "There is no war within BoulderClan. Here, we are safe. Here, we are free."

The other cat's eyes widened, and his protests became silent as the hypnosis began to affect him. Goldwing's eyes flashed white, and then he found himself back with his friends, panting hard from the vision. He saw his friends give him concerned looks, but he ignored them.

What did those cats do to that prisoner? They had done something so dark and demonic to make him shut up about the war. Whoever that cat was, Goldwing thanked him, but now he was unable to tell anyone about the war.

_Whitestorm! Heavyrose! Any cat in StarClan! _he pleaded silently. _What's going on with these cats? What's happening to them?_

"You can't keep this secret from your Clan forever!" Silverheart growled at Longfang, extracting her claws. "They have a right to know!"

"_I'll _tell them," Goldwing insisted, stalking forward to confront the smug tom. "I'll tell everyone what's happening right now!"

The polite look on Longfang's face was replaced by a very ugly glare. He leaped down from his chair and glared at Goldwing in the eye; the Avatar Cat countered it with a glare of hatred. He didn't care if this cat clawed him on the face, but he would make sure everyone knew of the war.

"Until now, you've been treated as our honored guest. But you've lost my respect for you," the deputy hissed. "From now on, you will be watched every moment by Tai Kwan cats. If you mention the war to anyone, you will be banished from the city." He turned around and stalked over to the hearth with the green fire. "I see you've been looking for your dragon, correct? It would be quite a shame if you were not able to complete your quest."

Goldwing felt frightened for a moment, wondering what would happen to Archie...if he was still in the city. But his expression changed to that of silent anger; missing Archie fueled more of his fire inside.

"Joo Dee will show you home. Joo Dee?" Longfang called to another cat. "Take them back to their house."

Then the reddish-brown tom sat back down as the library door open to let a new cat face the cats of AvatarClan. This she-cat was not brown tabby but a gray tabby she-cat instead. This was not Joo Dee.

"Come with me, please," the she-cat meowed, smiling like Joo Dee.

Silverheart gasped. "Where did Joo Dee go?"

The she-cat smiled in a disturbing way like Joo Dee had done. "I'm Joo Dee. I will be your host as long as you live in our glorious city."

Goldwing and his friends gasped. This was really not the same Joo Dee.

And what was worse was that the leader wasn't in charge. Evil cats were in charge.

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**Katara: I remember seeing that other Joo Dee. I was like "Where's the real Joo Dee?"**

**Aang: Same here.**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. It was like making robotic Joo Dees...though robots didn't exist back before Korra was born.**

**Aang: Weren't those robots on The Legend Of Korra?**

**AvatarCat12: Nah, they were mechas; those are more humanoid than robots. But let's get on with the review thing. (To the readers) Those who read and review will get a virtual plush doll of your favorite World Of Warcraft race and class. Flames will not be allowed on here, but advice and constructive criticism is welcome anytime.**

**Preview: This tells of six stories that tell of what happens to some cats in BoulderClan. See all the drama, hilarity, action, and heartwarming tales that tell us more about these cats.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	16. The Six Tales Of BoulderClan

**AvatarCat12: So this chapter will more different from the others. And you all know why!**

**Katara: Because it'll be like the episode The Tales Of Ba Sing Se?**

**Aang: And it'll be a break from the main storyline?**

**AvatarCat12: Yep and double yep. If you guys were in a House in Hogwarts, I'd give you ten points each for that.**

**Katara: (Smiles) Thanks, Avatar Cat! And if it's okay with you, can I say the disclaimer? (AvatarCat12 nods) Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: AvatarCat12 owns neither series. Never has, never wanted to, never will.**

**Summary: This tells of six stories that tell of what happens to some cats in BoulderClan. See all the drama, hilarity, action, and heartwarming tales that tell us more about these cats.**

**Uploading Date: June 6, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

…

_**The Six Tales Of EarthClan**_

_**(The Tale Of Nightpaw And Silverheart)**_

It was another beautiful morning in BoulderClan as the cats began to stir. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and three certain cats and a hawk were up and grooming.

Goldwing was licking at extra white paint that accidentally splashed onto his right foreleg; when it was groomed off, he waved his tail happily. Ashfeather was scratching at a flea on one of his ears while stabbing a tick on his nose with his claw; when those were off, he grinned, clicked his tongue, and flicked his tail at his reflection. Silverheart licked at a forepaw and wiped it gently over a smudge on her head fur; when that was done, she smiled a pretty smile at her reflection.

As for Tobias, he was also busy at grooming in a hawk-like way on his bird perch. He held out one wing, looked around at it, and started nipping at it with his sharp beak. When he finished pulling out some dead feathers, he spread out his wings and flew out the window.

_It's already dawn. I better go wake Nightpaw up, _Silverheart decided, seeing that her apprentice wasn't up. So she leapt down from the living room counter, padded over to the black cat's room, and gently pushed the door open.

Silverheart gasped when she saw the inside of the bedroom; it was dark and completely messy. A few mouse bones were littered on the floor, and black cat hairs were laid out all over the place in the room. And there was Nightpaw herself, her short pelt totally messy and her blankets from her nest filthy.

"Huh. I didn't know her room looked like this," Silverheart muttered to herself. Out loud, she meowed, "Hey, Nightpaw. It's a beautiful day today. Aren't you getting up to start it?"

Nightpaw quickly sat up, revealing dried mud on her whiskers. She snorted before hacking and spitting a large hairball into a nearby spittoon, which spun upon impact. That made Silverheart flinch with surprise; this former kittypet was more like a tom than a she-cat.

Then Nightpaw got to her paws and started shaking off the added dust from sleeping, making her mentor cough. When that was done, she mewed, "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go hunting."

Silverheart stammered, "Wait, you're not gonna clean up? You got a bit of dirt on...everywhere!"

"Aw, come on," Nightpaw insisted. "You call it dirt, I call it a healthy coat of earth fur."

"Hmm..." Silverheart sat down and began thinking. If only there was some way to make her apprentice enjoy her day. But after a bit more thinking, she got a plan.

She stood back up and mewed, "You know what we need? A queens' day out!"

Nightpaw gave her an indignant glare. "Do I _have_ to?"

"Come on. It'll be fun," Silverheart urged in a singsong voice.

It seemed to take a bit of a while for the black she-cat to decide. Finally, she gave a small sigh and stood up, stretching a bit before following her mentor.

**...**

After a breakfast of koi fish, Silverheart and Nightpaw padded out into town, going towards a big building. It was indeed big, decorated with pictures of olive green flowers and exotic plants with a small pond beside it. Coming out of the building were two she-cats, dressed up in beautiful robes and talking excitedly to each other.

Silverheart watched as Nightpaw sniffed the air with disgust and wrinkled her nose. After a day at the spa, she would be changing her mind soon. But she didn't want to force her apprentice to like it; this would take some time.

"The Fancy Queen Day Spa?" Nightpaw repeated what Silverheart called the place. "That sounds all right."

"Good," Silverheart purred. "You ready for some epic pampering?"

Nightpaw replied, "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say. As long as they don't touch my damn paws."

She hung her head low, and her mentor guided her into the spa building. Here was where the fun would really begin.

**...**

Silverheart sighed with ease as two she-cats massaged her front paws and painted her claws pink. Behind her, a few more she-cats were braiding her long silver coat and fluffed out her long fluffy tail. This was what a Queens' Day Out should be like, she seemed to think.

Nightpaw, however, did not get her wish. Despite not wanting to get her paws touched, it seemed that the other she-cats did it anyway. Silverheart wanted to tell the black she-cat that it was part of being pampered, but she kept her mouth closed. She watched on as the attendants tried to get the massive amount of dirt from between Nightpaw's claws by using a pickax. What was even more embarrassing was that they had to hold her down to keep her from squirming, but she kept on growling.

_Relax, Nightpaw. They're just cleaning your paws, _Silverheart wanted to tell her. But there was no way she would listen...for now.

Nightpaw let out a loud screech, and suddenly, an explosion of dust erupted from one of the doorways as the frame was crumpled as an attendant flew out and hit the opposite wall. The small former kittypet had used an EarthBending attack out of simply annoyance. Silverheart shook her head at that little scene, but she knew something they would enjoy.

After getting their paws done, the two she-cats took mud baths, mud covering their faces in a mask, cucumber slices over their eyes, and their heads wrapped in towels. Silverheart felt that it wasn't the same as water, but it felt really nice. A helper with a pelt full of fresh towels padded over to Nightpaw, who turned to face her. She breathed in and then exhaled, which it apparently did some kind of EarthBending as the mud on her face began to move strangely and creating an alien-like look.

The attendant, having seen this, screamed with terror and ran off. Seeing this, Silverheart began laughing as well as Nightpaw, who made the mud around her mouth form into a goofy smile.

After that, the two she-cats decided to go into the steam bath, which felt nice on the skin under Silverheart's fur. There were two piles of rocks in the middle to control the heat inside, one hot and one cold. Nightpaw used EarthBending to kick the ground once, causing a rock from the cold pile to fall onto the hot pile. Silverheart used WaterBending to splash the hot rocks with some water, creating steam. They both sighed as the heat lulled them into relaxation.

_It's good to hang out like this, _Silverheart sighed, wondering if Goldwing liked steam baths. He probably would.

**...**

"That wasn't so bad at all," Nightpaw mewed as they left the spa. "I'm not one to go into that kind of stuff, but I fell like...like a she-cat now."

When they had checked each other in the mirror at the spa, Silverheart told her what she looked like. Nightpaw's long bangs at the front of her head were combed on her head, and she was given lots of make-up for cats. Silverheart was the same, except all of her fur was combed due to her having a long pelt.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," her mentor purred. "It's good to do something like this now and again."

Finally, they approached the bridge that led them back to their house. Nightpaw could hear the gurgle of water beneath the bridge and shivered. She had no problem with water as long as it was to drink; she just didn't like to swim. The young apprentice felt jealousy towards her mentor for being able to see, but she got rid of the thought. She didn't need to see to sense her way around.

When they crossed over the bridge, they stopped abruptly. Nightpaw lifted her nose in the air and sniffed; there was a scent of three she-cats coming towards them, but not directly.

"Wow, that's good makeup," one she-cat mewed to Nightpaw.

Nightpaw mewed shyly, "Thanks."

"...for a clownfish!" the she-cat added, laughing in a mean way. The other three she-cats joined in with the cruel laughing.

Nightpaw felt her face drop, feeling upset already. She wanted to prove she was a good cat, and looks didn't mean anything to her. But that last comment sure did make her feel low like a rug.

Silverheart led Nightpaw away, growling at the she-cats, "Leave us alone, fox-hearts. Don't listen to them, Nightpaw," she murmured to her apprentice. "Keep walking."

But Nightpaw heard a second she-cat meow, "Actually, she _does_ look cute. It's like that time we put that cat sweater on your toy poodle."

"Nice one, Ruby!" another she-cat meowed.

"Come on." Silverheart's voice was filled with fury at the she-cats. "Let's leave them alone."

But Nightpaw pulled back, yowling to the she-cats, "No, wait! That _was_ a good one! 'Like your poodle'? That's classic! You know what else is funny?"

The she-cat shook their heads. "No. What?"

"This, bitches!"

At this, Nightpaw jumped into the air and pounded the ground once, causing dust to rumble up as her EarthBending shot across the bridge to where the she-cats stood. A hole opened up in the stone bridge where her EarthBending reached them, and all three fell through into the creek. The she-cats were groaning and whining when complaining about their "beautiful fur."

"Now THAT was funny!" Silverheart purred, padding over and looking down into the hole.

With one sweep of her tail, she Bended a huge wave of water that swept the she-cats downstream as they screamed their lungs out, not literally. Feeling satisfied, Nightpaw began stalking away with her mentor following her.

When Silverheart caught up with her, she mewed, "Nightpaw, don't listen to them. They don't know what the hell they're talking about."

"It's okay," Nightpaw mewed, turning to face her mentor; Silverheart helped her a bit to face her. "There's one good thing about being blind: I don't have to worry about appearances. I don't care what I look like or how I behave. I'm not looking for anyone's say-so or pity. I know who I am," she added, feeling a tear fall down her cheek. "And I'm proud to be who I am."

Fading pawsteps told her that Silverheart had stopped walking. Nightpaw did the same and faced her mentor once again.

"That's why I admire you and also glad you're my apprentice," Silverheart purred. "You're strong and confident. I know this might not count, but...you look very pretty today."

Nightpaw gaped at her with awe. "You think so?"

Silverheart added, "I don't _think_ so; I _know_ so."

Nightpaw gave the silver she-cat a purr, and the two kept walking down the road to home. After that bit of small talk, Nightpaw felt much better; she felt like she was now on a cloud, not her usual land of dirt.

"I'd like to send that same compliment to you, Silverheart, but I don't know what you look like, apart from hearing about your silver pelt. But Goldwing's been saying it throughout that party a few nights ago," Nightpaw mewed.

Her mentor purred in reply.

"But seriously, thanks," the black cat went on, nudging her hard on the shoulder in a friendly way. Silverheart's purr was disrupted by that, but she joined in with her apprentice's purring.

**...**

_**(The Tale Of Irontail)**_

Irontail padded casually down the road, looking around him. It was a beautiful morning with the sweet sunray warming his gray tabby pelt and the birds' songs filling him with delight. His tail twitched at the thought of going on a picnic; one would be enough to satisfy him on his day off from work. As his elders always told him when he was young, a rest a day would let you play all day.

Finally, Irontail approached a flower shop, admiring the exotic plants inside and sniffing them. He stopped to observe a nice square basket before being interrupted by the store owner.

"If you're going out on a romantic picnic, may I suggest the pink one?" the owner asked.

Irontail chuckled. "It's not a romantic picnic. But it IS for a special occasion."

He gave the merchant a few coins from his bag and picked up the basket. Irontail turned to leave the market stall when a closed golden flower in a vase caught his eye. He slid the vase out of the sunlight and into the shade, making the owner gaze on in confusion.

"A word of advice: the golden night flower enjoys partial shade. But a bit of sunlight won't harm it too much," Irontail reminded him.

The owner of the shop gave Irontail a grateful nod, which was returned by a knowing nod. Happy to help someone out, the fat gray tabby tom backed away and padded away from the shop.

The next shop Irontail arrived at had strange kind of instruments. All of them were bizarre to some cats, but Irontail knew what they were right away. He looked over at a liuqin, which he knew was an eastern instrument with strings attached. Irontail was just inspecting it when a wailing sound made him look around.

Sitting in the street was a black-&-white kit wailing loudly and his calico mother trying to calm him down. Irontail saw what was making the kit cry: a tooth, small but sharp, had buried itself into his paw pad. But when the mother was trying to pull it out, the pain was making the kit cry harder. A gray she-cat was scolding a white ferret crouching low before her; it appeared it had gotten out and bit the kit on the paw and its tooth came loose.

"May I?" Irontail asked the owner of the liuqin, taking hold of it.

The owner nodded, so Irontail took the instrument in his jaws, padded over to the kit, and sat down next to him. With a gentle smile on his face, he sat on his haunches, took the liuqin in his forelegs, and began to play it for the kit. All the while, he began singing softly:

"_Leaves from the vine, falling so slow_

_Like fragile little shells, drifting in the foam._

_Little warrior, come prowling home._

_Brave warrior comes prowling home."_

While Irontail sang, the kit's wailing ceased as his frown slowly changed to a big smile. The tortoiseshell queen had padded up to her son and gently took the tooth out, but the kit now didn't even notice. Instead, he clapped his paws together, giggled, and grabbed onto Irontail's face.

"Easy there, young'un," the elderly tom purred as he patted the kit on the head.

The mother dipped her head towards Irontail and purred, "Thank you, sir. I was wondering when he would stop so I could pull that tooth out."

Irontail chuckled, "It's no trouble at all, ma'am. I have a nephew at home and a son in StarClan. Experience with kits is a very good thing indeed."

The tortoiseshell queen dipped her head to him in thanks again and padded away, leading her kit away. The kit gave a squeak of thanks and pranced away after his mother, leaping around her paws. Irontail watched them go with a smile, feeling nostalgic memories flow into his mind like a gentle river.

He remembered all the times he would play with Wolfcloud and comfort him when he was sad or injured. Unlike Darkstar, Irontail loved his son very much and wished more than anything to have him by his side again. But things were now in the past, and there was no way going back but to go forward. If one let go of the past, he believed, one would find inner peace.

So Irontail went over to the owner of the liuqin, paid for it, and went on his way.

**...**

Scuffling noises made Irontail look up from sniffing out prey to see what was going on. There seemed to be several noises that sounded like something being shifted around. His basket filled with picnic stuff, Irontail gently put it down and padded to an alley to see what in the name of StarClan was going on.

The fat gray tabby tom found himself looking out in a courtyard in the alley. Four kits, two male and two female, were in the courtyard with a white ball, playing a game. Irontail chuckled at this scene; these games reminded him of prey-stones, a game he and Wolfcloud had loved playing together. This was also a game played in the ancient Clans before StarClan won the final battle.

A light brown tabby tomkit hit the ground with his forepaw, and the ball shot up and back down. He kicked it with a rear kick and followed it up with some EarthBending. A patch of earth rose to create a path for the ball as it rolled along. Another player EarthBended to hamper the path of the ball before it reached the goal. This caused the ball to launch up and into the path Irontail was standing.

Eyes wide, Irontail leaped out of the way just in time. But the ball ripped through the window directly behind where he was.

"HEY!" a voice roared from the broken window.

Irontail winced at the harshness of the voice, knowing that the owner of the window was not happy. So he padded over to the kits and flicked his tail to them as they gathered around him to listen to what he had to say.

When they sat down around him, Irontail began meowing, "It is usually best to admit mistakes when they happen, and to seek to restore honor-"

Loud smashes were heard, and all five cats looked up, startled. The black-&-white snout of a big badger was poking out of the broken window, showing long sharp yellow teeth.

"WHEN I GET MY PAWS ON YOU LITTLE SHITS, THIS WINDOW AIN'T GONNA BE THE ONE THAT'S BROKEN!" the badger roared.

"...but not this time," mewed Irontail. "Run!"

At those words, he and the kits sped off in opposite directions. Irontail leapt over a vase thrown at him, and he kicked down a stick thrown at his direction. When he made it out of the courtyard, he picked up his basket and left in a hurry before something else would be tossed at him.

Irontail began running down the marketplace street quickly, ignoring other cats looking at him in an odd way. He hid in an alley, placed the basket down, and looked around the corner to see if he was being chased. When the badger hadn't appeared from around the corner, the former FireClan elder exhaled with relief and sat down.

_Thank StarClan._

"You! Gimme your money!"

Irontail looked around to see who had growled at him. A black tomcat with a white muzzle and white forepaws was standing before him, claws unsheathed and fur bristling. Feeling the need to defend himself, Irontail prepared himself for a fight, but a fight was not to be a fight to the death. It was one for self-defense and a trail of strength.

But then, his need to defend himself faded away as quickly as dew. This tom was standing in an awkward position; his foreleg was bent in an awkward way, and his tail was held up instead of held out. His foreleg wasn't broken, but he did look awkward.

So Irontail stood up and asked him with an arched brow, "What are you doing?"

The tomcat stared at him, his green eyes narrowed. "What am I _doing_? I'm mugging you, that's what!"

"With that stance?" Irontail asked him with disbelief. "It makes you look more like a lopsided badger. No offense."

"Wha...?" The tom gazed at him with shock before growling, "What the hell are you talking about? Just gimme your money, old fox-breath!"

Irontail padded over to him, shaking his head. "You are unbalanced if your fighting stance is poor. And if that is true, you may find yourself knocked over."

Suddenly, without warning, he grabbed the dagger the tom was holding in his jaws and disarmed him by yanking it away. At the same time, he proved his point by pushing his attacker away with a paw sweep and knocking him to the ground. The black tom let out a yowl of surprise as he fell down, complete with a shamed face when he looked up at Irontail.

But he didn't want to make this cat suffer for his crime; he wanted to show him a way out of this misery. It was like what he told Bearclaw before he wandered off: if he gave up hope, his darkest instincts would surface. So he twirled the dagger around a bit before grabbing the rogue's scruff in his teeth and gently pulled him up.

"With a solid stance, you will become a more serious threat," Irontail told him, proving a proper stance for the thug.

The mugger attempted to imitate Irontail's stance, but he was still not assuming the correct form. Irontail padded over to him and held his attacker's head still while he corrected his stance by nudging his rear up with his paw. He made sure the tom's front paws were splayed apart as he held his tail out. After helping him assume the correct form, Irontail was pleased with the cat's stance.

He nodded and purred, "That's better! Good job! However, to be honest, you do not look like the rogue type. By the way, what's your name?"

"I don't have one. I just go by the name of Mugger," the rogue sighed. "And you're right. I...I'm just confused right now. I don't know what to do!"

But Irontail knew the answer for that.

Sometime later, after the two cats had bowls of cream from a passing cart, Irontail asked what the young cat was planning on doing. Mugger explained that he wanted to be a masseur, but he couldn't, for he was raised in a poor family. Irontail had told him that he would do well enough besides the mugging job.

"So you really think I'd be a good masseur?" Mugger mewed, rolling his bowl of cream around with his forepaws.

"Of course!" Irontail purred, pacing around the alley before sitting back down. "You have the power to be whatever you wish to be."

Mugger smiled happily before getting to his paws. "This is amazing! No one's ever believed in me before until now!"

Irontail gave him a warm smile. "It is good to believe in yourself. But don't forget, a little help from others is also just as good. It is also a great blessing in disguise."

**...**

Leaves gently fell from the tall blossom tree as Irontail approached a small tree on the hill and looked out over the city. The sky above his head was now a beautiful mix of red, orange, and even pink; they looked like seashells indeed. But he sighed as he looked down at his basket he brought along with him. This wasn't much of a picnic; it was a memorial.

Irontail placed his basket down and removed his hat. He crouched low to the ground and piled some rocks at the tree's base. Searching though his basket, he removed several things and placed them at the roots. He pulled out a sheet of paper and looked at it for a few seconds, closing his amber eyes and bowing his head, before placing it down as well. Finally he pulled out two joss sticks, which were sticks of incense that burned, and lit them with his claws by clicking the tips and placed them down as well. The message below read:

_Irontail,_

_I will see you again when we gain victory for our Clan._

_Your beloved son, Wolfcloud_

Irontail knew he had just made a small memorial for his dead kit, Wolfcloud. The memorial was little more than the burning joss sticks, a few apples, and a bag of nameless stuff. Most important of all, a sketched picture of Wolfcloud leaned against the rocks. He was a handsome dark gray tom, and he had the same amber eyes and flat face his father did.

"Happy birthday, my son," Irontail rasped, feeling his heart break. "If only I could have helped you."

With tears flowing down his cheeks, Irontail began to sing the same song he sang to the sad kit. But this time, however, he had difficulty keeping his voice from cracking under his grief. He sang:

"_Leaves from the vine, falling so slow,_

_Like fragile little shells, drifting in the foam..."_

Unable to contain his grief, the elderly FireClan tom broke down and began sobbing the rest of the song:

"_Little...warrior, come prowling home._

_Brave warrior...comes prowling home..."_

_***In honor of Mako, original voice actor for Iroh***_

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

_**(The Tale Of Goldwing)**_

Goldwing soared down over the city of BoulderClan on his glider, Tobias beside him. He had been looking for Archie for one reason; the other was that he wanted to explore without Joo Dee breathing down the necks of his friends and he. It felt good to soar around in the air once again.

The golden cat flew down to a deserted street, deserted except for one cat walking alone, as he landed, twirling his glider back into a staff. Goldwing began prowling down the street, which was lined on both sides with various cages and pens built into the rock. He padded each pen and looked in to see different creatures looking sad and depressed, his expression matching theirs.

He stopped and looked up into a cage where a group of dragonflies; these insects were around the size of a wolverine. The young AirClan cat looked down into pit-like pen to see three olive baboons lying on the ground, apparently very bored. Feeling his heart wrench at those poor beasts, Goldwing padded to a short-faced bear gnawing on the bars that kept it in its pen.

"Hey there, big fella," Goldwing purred, making the bear look up at him. "You must be hungry."

The bear bared its fangs, revealing broken yellow teeth, before it lunged at him, roaring like mad. Goldwing leapt backward with surprise, yowling at the sudden attack. The short-faced bear gave him one more snarl before stalking to a corner, laying down and curling up into a ball.

"They're hungry as hell." A new voice made Goldwing turn to see a dusty brown tom sweeping the ground with his tail. As Goldwing followed him, the tom meowed on, "The Tai Kwan won't give me any money because the kits stopped coming. And the kits stopped coming because my zoo's nasty and broke."

Goldwing felt anger towards the Tai Kwan once again. Not only were they hypnotizing cats, but they were also refusing to give this zookeeper some money. It was no wonder the kits didn't come to this zoo anymore; it was the fault of the Tai Kwan.

Looking into a cage containing a kangaroo-like animal, Goldwing mewed, "What's that animal?"

"Oh, that there's a wallaroo," the zookeeper meowed. "These critters are related to kangaroos and wallabies. I wish I could give her a big wide open savannah like the kind she likes. I'd love to see her hop all the way to happiness."

Goldwing looked over at the wallaroo. The female creature looked really bored and depressed, scratching her ear with a long foot just once. But seeing this animal gave Goldwing a good idea.

_So she needs wide open spaces, eh? And so do all these other animals!_

"We can do it!" Goldwing purred to the zookeeper.

"Eh?" the zookeeper meowed, tilting his head to one side. "Say that one more time. I don't think I heard you."

Goldwing explained, "There's a big wide open prairie outside the city walls, right? Well, we can take all these animals here over there!"

The zookeeper asked him, "Well, how in the hell are you gonna transport all these wild critters all the way over there?"

"Don't worry," the Avatar Cat reassured him. "I can handle this all by myself. Besides, I'm very good with other animals!"

**...**

"Or not."

Goldwing watched on as the baboons created chaos in one of the shops in the city, throwing pottery and breaking things. The owner came in swinging a broom in an attempt to save his shop, sending one of the baboons flying.

As soon as Goldwing freed the animals from their cages, chaos reigned supreme. The animals, happy at their freedom, started creating chaos and spread out through the city, making it hard to keep track. Goldwing had run through the city, trying to round up the animals, but they were too busy rampaging to pay attention to him.

When the baboons fled from the shop, an African elephant roared loudly, charging after a group of cats trying to flee. Another group of cats fled from an alley, heads low as the huge dragonflies buzzed after them. A Diatryma entered the streets, squawking loudly and snapping its large beak at yet another group of cats, who screamed in terror and fled. It chased them down an ally as the short-faced bear came dashing into view and ran off in another direction.

Shouts of exasperation made Goldwing look at another direction. The gray tabby merchant was staring on in terror as the female wallaroo began chowing down on his lettuces. He tried to save his precious lettuces, but the wallaroo kept grabbing one each and started eating each one.

"NOOO! MY LET-" But he stopped when the wallaroo gave him a look with a lettuce in her mouth. When she continued eating, the merchant slunk off, muttering, "Oh, forget it!"

Goldwing heard some buzzing sounds behind him and turned to see dragonflies hovering over a group of screaming cats. The Avatar Cat descended into the street and used his staff to shoo the creatures away with AirBending. He used a large blast of air to knock all of the insects out of the street.

"Great StarClan, this was much easier in my head!" he muttered.

But then, he remembered something. He remembered Tobias shivering whenever he used his dragon whistle to try and summon Archie. It seemed that the dragon whistle didn't always work for a dragon. Realizing how this idea could work, Goldwing reached into the bag over his neck to pull out his dragon whistle. He flipped the whistle into the air and, using AirBending, inhaled a great amount of air. Then, catching the whistle, he blew into it with huge force.

The whistle squeals louder and higher than usual, and Goldwing wondered how that came to be. But remembering how Nightpaw told him to feel his way around the ground, he dug his claws into the earth and listened. He could sense a big shockwave of sorts emitting from where he was and through the city as the whistle's sound spread out.

The baboons from earlier, one with a pot over its head, heard the noise and ran off to it. The big dragonflies, who apparently found new cats to terrorize, heard it and left their targets to explore. The wallaroo, still devouring lettuces as the lettuce merchant sobbed beside her, left the cart as she heard the whistle as well.

_It's working!_

**(Author's Note: That's the last time we'll ever see the lettuce merchant.)**

He whipped up some Air Paws and leapt into them, speeding down the street and blowing his dragon whistle. Goldwing raced by down the main street, a large stampede of creatures following him with a very slow sea lion bringing up the rear. The animals were now following him at a great speed, making Goldwing feel relieved at this plan working.

Up ahead, as he neared the gate, he could hear the zookeeper yowl, "But you have to open this gate! You have to!"

"What bullshit!" the guard chuckled to his fellow guard. Turning to the zookeeper, he sneered, "Or what?"

"Or that!" the zookeeper shouted, pointing his tail at Goldwing, who was still blowing the dragon whistle and the animals still following him.

"Holy StarClan's kits!" the first guard yelled. Looking up at the third guard, he screeched, "Open the gate! Now!"

Then the massive wall of BoulderClan began to open, allowing Goldwing to go through. As he passed through the opening, he stopped blowing the whistle, jumped out of his Air Paws, and got onto his glider. The creatures plowed through the opening as he soared up and over the wall. On the other side, the animals were coming out of the opening and starting to spread out as they ran in all directions.

Goldwing soared down behind the running animals and onto his Air Paws again. As he rode, he clawed at the ground, causing a large wall of earth to rise as he rode in a large circle creating a pen to block the fleeing animals. Once he finished that, he leaped out of the Air Paws and landed in the center of the pen he made. He EarthBended again, causing a square portion of the ground to descend and create a small pit. He turned around, sat on his haunches, and raised his forelegs high to cause a large pillar of earth to rise. Then he turned around and thrust his left forepaw out, making more walls to separate the animals.

After he was done with his work, Goldwing looked on at his creation. A large area of rock walls and pens were all situated like a zoo made from EarthBending. Squeals from behind him told him that many cats and the zookeeper gazed at this creation with awe before the kits pushed forward, squealing with joy.

The Avatar Cat and the zookeeper prowled through the zoo, looking on with joy as other cats began observing the animals. Goldwing could see the wallaroo from earlier looked up from drinking some water to see little excited kits gazing down at her. And, to the thrill of the kits, a small joey was poking his head out from his mother's pouch before climbing out and hopping all over the enclosure.

"So how do you like your new facilities, sir?" Goldwing asked the dusty brown zookeeper.

"I like it. That's a nice thing you did, Avatar Cat," the zookeeper purred. "I think you might be able to work with animals with no problem!"

"Mama! Mr. Tinkles got out again!"

"Mr. Tinkles? What are you doing out of the house?"

Goldwing heard the voices touch his ears as he and the zookeeper looked on towards where the elephant was living at. Snarling up at the massive beast was a gray ferret, its fur bristling as a miniature goat and a pug looked up at it with confusion. Apparently, the elephant also looked down at them with confusion before spraying them with water from its trunk.

The zookeeper turned to give Goldwing an embarrassed look. "You know what? I think you'd do well in saving cats instead."

Goldwing chuckled nervously.

**...**

_**(The Tale Of Ashfeather)**_

Ashfeather prowled down a candle-lit street at night. He reached back and pulled his badger-bone boomerang from its sheath, threw it into the sky, and caught it in his jaws as it came back. The dark gray tabby tom felt better when he was practicing battle skills; it wouldn't feel right to laze around all day in a house...except if he was finished hunting.

He was padding past a building and into the ally beside it when he heard a grunting noise. In the ally, a gray cat was struggling with his black horse. Ashfeather passed them and by the windows of the building, but he heard voices from inside. Interested, he turned around and stuck his head inside the window, paws on the windowsill.

"Hello...what's this here?" Ashfeather wondered.

Inside the building, there was a classroom of sorts with a stage. Several she-cats that occupied the class were all wearing beautiful robes and head pieces. There was a silver tabby she-cat on stage reading her writings to the class.

"_Through all the long night,_

_Leaf-bare moon glows with bright love,_

_Snow her silver tears."_

As the class applauded her, Ashfeather sighed with contentment. He hadn't heard of anything so amazing like that except for a victory cry in battle. But this kind of poetry...was like pure gold to him, soft and very pleasing.

"Ahh...I love poetry."

But while he was looking on, the black horse was still struggling with its handle, thrashing its head around and neighing loudly. It kicked backward and hit Ashfeather in the rear, sending him flying through the window and into the class. Ashfeather had yowled with surprise when the horse's hind hoof smashed into his behind and shoved him into the classroom.

The she-cats gaped at him with shock as Ashfeather hung from the window, part of the frame around his chest. He decided to apologize, so he pulled himself into the room and fell onto the stage. Ignoring the looks on their faces, he began his apology.

"My bad there, ladies!" he started. "A horse kicked me in the rear. I just...wound up...here?"

To Ashfeather's surprise, the students began clapping for him and murmuring excitedly to each other. Now he felt surprised and pleased rather than shock; the she-cats seemed to like it when he spoke like that. But despite having a mate already, Ashfeather decided to just impress them with more poetry.

He grinned as he stood in front of the class. A silver tortoiseshell she-cat on the far right of the group stood up, applauding softly but looking stern. She began speaking in the same kind of lines he was using:

"_Five, seven, then five._

_Syllables mark a haiku,_

_Remarkable klutz."_

She bowed to him, but Ashfeather took slight offense at the last part. But he got an idea on how to get back at her; if it was a "haiku" contest she wanted, then she would have one!

Clearing his throat, the WaterClan warrior spoke his haiku:

"_I am Ashfeather._

_A wildcat of WaterClan."_

He counted off the next five syllables on the toes on his forepaws and finished:

"_I am not a klutz."_

The she-cats laughed at that, and Ashfeather felt proud, hoping his mate was there to see this. But this time, the silver tortoiseshell didn't applaud him like she did before. She narrowed her turquoise eyes at him and meowed:

"_Cawing black raven,_

_In newleaf, he flies so high,_

_And thinks he is tall."_

"Ooooh," the she-cats mewed with awe.

Ashfeather glared at her, but he went on with his haiku:

"_You think you're so smart!_

_With those little fancy words!_

_Well, this ain't so hard!"_

"Ooooh!" the she-cats mewed with awe again.

The silver tortoiseshell she-cat licked her paw and swiped it over her face. Then she stalked up to Ashfeather on the stage, while ignoring he was taller than her, and recited:

"_Whole seasons are spent_

_Mastering the form they style._

_None calls it easy."_

Ashfeather retorted:

"I _call it easy!_

_Like paddling my own canoe._

_I'll paddle yours too!"_

He wrapped this up by turning around and waggling his behind in front of her. The she-cats began laughing, and Ashfeather felt himself smile. This was much easier than he thought.

But the silver tortoiseshell wasn't going to give up. Instead, she grabbed a grape from a plate and dropped it, reciting:

"_There are nuts and fruits._

_In leaf-fall, the grape falls down,_

_Always to be squashed."_

She unsheathed her claws and stomped on the grape, its juice splattering her forepaw. While she stopped to lick it off, Ashfeather took the chance to make dancing movements, reciting:

"_Squish, squash, sling that slang!_

_I'm always right back at ya!_

"_Like my..."_

He pulled out his trusty boomerang, finishing:

"_...BOOMERANG!"_

The she-cats began laughing at this part, now giving Ashfeather their fullest attention. The silver tortoiseshell she-cat looked annoyed, but she stalked off stage and back to where mentors would sit at. Ashfeather was now glad he won the haiku contest, for he could give his own now.

So he held the boomerang in his jaws, stood on his hind legs, and meowed:

"_Yeah! I'm Ashfeather!_

_It rhymes with the word 'heather!'_

_And guess what? I ROCK YA!"_

He gave a grin and looked around, hoping to find a cheer or laughter once again. But strangely this time, no one cheered for him like they did last time. Instead, they were staring at him sternly as if he had said something wrong. Speaking of that...

Ashfeather began to count the toes on his front paws, attempting to figure out if he had too many syllables. Sure enough, he realized his final line contained six syllables instead of five.

"Oh shit..." he muttered.

"Um, that's way too many syllables there, kid," a large badger growled, appearing behind him.

Gulping, Ashfeather hid his face from it, hoping the large black-&-white animal wouldn't tear his face off. But instead, the badger took him by the scruff, swung him around, and finally tossed him outside the window. Letting out a yowl of surprise, Ashfeather landed on the ground with a thud, skidding far from the class.

The dark gray tabby cat glared back at the class, his pride being hurt. He picked himself up and stalked away, spitting in its direction.

"Ugh...I hate poetry."

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

_**(The Tale Of Bearclaw)**_

Bearclaw prowled down the shop with a tray of bowls, searching for the right table to put it at. He and Irontail had both been working at the cream under the semblance of Moss and Warthog respectively. Sadly, Bearclaw didn't feel much joy in living in BoulderClan; instead, the dark brown tabby rogue felt lonelier without his father's approval.

Suddenly, something had caught his eye, and what he saw...he didn't like it. So Bearclaw hurried over to Irontail, who was standing on a ladder behind the counter, and beckoned him over to him. The elderly gray tabby cat gave him a confused look, but he clambered down anyways.

"Uncle, we have a problem on our paws," Bearclaw meowed as Irontail got down. "One of the customers is onto us."

He had flicked his tail over to the customer he had seen earlier. In the corner was a pretty ginger she-cat with dark ginger stripes and one white paw, calmly lapping up a bowl of cream. But Bearclaw was sure she saw through their disguises.

"Don't look now, but there's a she-cat in the corner of the shop. She knows we're FireClan cats. Hey!" he hissed to his uncle, who had turned around to look. So Bearclaw turned him back around and spat, "Didn't I tell you to not look?"

"You're right, my nephew," Irontail purred, a wide smile on his face. "I've seen that she-cat in here quite a lot; she has quite a little bit of a crush on you," he added with an even wider smile.

Bearclaw reeled back in shock. "_What?_ What the hell makes you say that?"

"Thank you for the cream, you two." The ginger she-cat was right behind them, looking over at them with pretty bright green eyes. She gently shoved a bag of coins to Bearclaw and Irontail, meowing, "What's your name?"

Bearclaw gaped at her, trying hard to keep himself together. He hadn't felt like this towards any other she-cat, but he felt nervous. What if he told her his real name? Would the she-cat chase him and his uncle out of the city, or would she alert the warriors?

So he meowed, "My name is Moss. My uncle and I just moved here a few sunrises ago."

The she-cat purred in reply. "Hey, Moss. My name's Jade. Thanks for the cream, and..." She shuffled her forepaws nervously. "...I was wondering if you'd like to...go out sometime. So what do you say?"

"He'd love to!" Irontail told her, gently shoving Bearclaw forward. Bearclaw, however, was hissing, "Wait! I didn't say-"

"Great!" Jade purred. "So I'll meet you at the front of the shop at sundown."

"Y-Yeah," Bearclaw agreed, stumbling over his words.

Jade gave him a purr of friendliness and padded away, swishing her fluffy tail around. Bearclaw took the chance to give his uncle a bewildered glare. Irontail just threw a foreleg around his broad shoulder, wearing a large goofy grin on his face again.

_I don't know anything about dating! So what do I do then?_

**...**

It was nighttime now, and Bearclaw padded out into the street. He was thankful for Irontail for helping him, but he also felt very embarrassed. Why did he have to tell Jade he was available for dating? But he knew that he past had to stay in the past.

So Bearclaw padded over to a nearby pond and looked down into his reflection. He was wearing a handsome green set of robes, a contrast to his dark brown tabby pelt. But the most amazing and amusing change in his appearance was that his dark tabby pelt, which was shaggy and unkempt, had been combed and parted. He padded out into the middle of the street and looked around as Jade emerged from around the side of the shop and approached him.

Outwardly, Bearclaw gave her a cheesy grin. But on the inside, he mewed to himself, _Get a hold of yourself, mouse-heart! You can fight off many of Thornflare's warriors, so you can handle a she-cat by yourself!_

"Hey, Moss," Jade purred as she padded towards him.

Bearclaw muttered back, "Hey."

"Well, look at you, tiger!" she purred, reaching her white paw forward and ruffled his fur as it looked normal again. "You look so _cute!_"

"It took my uncle ten minutes to fix my pelt," Bearclaw muttered, gently pushing her paw away.

Jade turned around at the spot and flicked her tail at him, winking at him. Bearclaw sighed and padded towards her, looking around at the cream shop once more for the night. He had no idea on how to behave towards a she-cat, but he didn't want to worry about that all night.

**...**

After wandering the streets together, the two cats arrived at a town square of sorts where several cats stood around doing various activities. They padded onwards to the exterior of a courtyard restaurant; Jade had revealed that she wasn't that much of a hunter.

Once they got to a table, they had ordered the same delicacy: spaghetti, a food that the extinct Twolegs liked. But Bearclaw didn't eat; he instead poked at the meatball on top with a weary foreclaw. Jade was watching him with interest as she lapped up a few laps of cream. He wished she didn't look at him like that; it made him feel awkward.

Finally, after a moment of silence, Jade asked him, "So how do you like this city so far?"

"It's okay," Bearclaw replied, not looking up as he shrugged.

"And what do you like to do for fun?" the ginger she-cat asked on.

Bearclaw looked down at his plate. "Nothing."

"Excuse me, sir."

Bearclaw and Jade looked up from their plates. A gibbon waiter was looking at them, holding sweet rolls on a plate. The primate went on, "Would you and your mate like some dessert?"

"She is NOT my mate!" Bearclaw snarled, scratching the table with his unsheathed claws.

The restaurant went quiet as everyone glanced over at him. The waiter slunk away, and Bearclaw stared back clumsily before looking back to Jade. Amazingly, the ginger she-cat seemed to have not taken any kind of offense or, indeed, any form of notice to this eruption. That was because she was devouring a large piece of pheasant meat at an alarming rate.

Bearclaw gaped at her with awe, unable to think of what to say. Finally, he muttered, "Uh...you seem to have an appetite for a she-cat."

"Um...thanks," Jade replied, looking awkward at what he said. Then, as she twitched both of her ears and swiped her tongue over her jaws, she mewed, "So Moss...where did you and your uncle live before moving here?"

"Uh...we've actually been travelling around for moons," Bearclaw lied.

"Oh, really?" Jade responded, looking at him curiously. "Why did you travel? Did you get driven from your territory?"

Bearclaw shook his head. "No. We've been loners for as long as I can remember. But we were part of this...travelling circus," he finished, strongly reminded of Aya, Frostfire's friend.

Jade's green eyes widened. "Really? What'd you do in the circus?" Before he could answer, she meowed, "Wait! I think I know this one. You juggled, right?"

The large dark tabby looked down and started to think. Now to think of it, there was one act he always liked when he was a kit. Bearheart would take him out somewhere for fun while Darkstar would always train Frostfire.

Finally, he replied, "...yeah. I juggled."

"I've always wanted to learn how to do that," Jade continued with awe. "Can you show me?"

The ginger she-cat held out an assortment of objects seemingly from the table that Bearclaw took into his forepaws. The dark brown tabby tom wasn't much for juggling, but seeing the kind look on Jade's pretty face, he knew he couldn't disappoint her. Besides, he felt he could try and liven up a bit.

So he threw each one up in the air, one after the other and prepared to catch them. He succeeded in catching none of them, and one bowl managed to fall onto his head and break into several bits of pieces. Jade didn't laugh at him; instead, she smiled at him gently. Other cats just stared at him with confusion before going about their business.

"Damn it," Bearclaw muttered. Seeing Jade stare at him in a weird way when he cursed, he meowed, "Sorry. It's just...I haven't juggled in a while. That's all."

"It's okay," Jade purred, reaching over to wipe some pottery off his head. "Hey, how about I show you a favorite part of the city I like?"

Bearclaw nodded.

**...**

After dinner, the two cats left the table after Jade led Bearclaw away from the restaurant. They were now leaping from roof to roof before leaping down the roof to run in the streets. Several horses neighed and got out of the way as Jade raced under their legs with Bearclaw behind her. He wanted to yowl to her that she should be careful, but she was already speeding up as she ran away from a mighty stallion's kick.

The street was lit only by the light of the full moon and was deserted save for Bearclaw and Jade. Jade was talking as the two cats ran down the street, their paws silently drumming the earth.

"I can't wait for you to see the firelight fountain," she purred, her ginger fur glowing silver in the moonlight. "The lamps make the water sparkle and reflect in the pool. It's so beautiful!"

She led the dark brown tabby tom into an open area with a large fountain and several posts with candles on top surrounding it in a circle. However, to spite its apparent name, it was dark and the candles were unlit.

Jade stared on in shock. "What the...? It's not lit? I-I can't believe it..."

Her face fell, disappointment clear all over. Bearclaw looked at her and back at the candles, not wanting for her to be so sad on a night like this. He hated to see anyone he was allies with look sad about something like this; it made him almost slip back to his moody state.

He turned to her and commanded, "Close your eyes, and don't open them until I say so."

Jade did so, closing her eyes and wiggling with suppressed excitement. Bearclaw turned away from her and looked around the candles, each one still unlit. He took a deep breath and padded away from her until he was in the center of the plaza.

Bearclaw closed his eyes, flicked his tail around, and started to spin on the spot. Using his tail, he shot small bursts of flame in all directions at the candles to light them. Once finished, he padded over to Jade, who still had her eyes closed.

"Okay, Jade. You can look now," Bearclaw told her.

Jade opened her eyes and gaped at the scene unfolding before her. The whole area was now lit with glowing candles, the water from the spouts pouring in arches into the pool. Bearclaw was quite pleased to see his date happy at this; he also hoped she didn't peek at him FireBending.

"Wow..." Jade mewed in awe. She looked over at Bearclaw and asked him, "What happened? How did they light up like that? What did you..."

But she trailed off, unable to find a thing to say. All Bearclaw did in reply was smile in a roguish way; it was the first time he had smiled in moons. Then both cats turned to look at the fountain together.

As Bearclaw examined his work, feeling quite proud, Jade shuffled her forepaws together and smiled at him, though he didn't see. She padded close to him and gently rubbed her short pelt against his thicker dark tabby fur. Having his attention attracted, Bearclaw turned to look at the she-cat smiling at him. They both turned to face each other and Jade began leaning over, her green eyes glittering in the candlelight.

Bearclaw felt nervous at this; he had never felt like this when being around other she-cats. But he felt even more nervous at what she was going to do.

So he held up a cream shop coupon in front of her face and mewed, "I brought you something. It's a coupon for a free bowl of cream."

"Thank you, Moss," Jade cooed, rubbing her head to his. "That's so sweet."

"Don't thank me," Bearclaw told her, stepping a bit away from her. "Thank my uncle Warthog; he's the one who arranged this. Besides, he thinks you're the best customer in a while."

"Well, tell you uncle I said 'Thanks,'" Jade purred, stepping towards him. "I also have something for you. Now it's _your _turn to close your eyes."

Bearclaw felt that he had no choice but to close his amber eyes. He was worried that Jade would comment on his scar and call him a FireClan cat; that was what happened at a village he saved a moon ago. However, he didn't hear anything about that, but he did smell Jade's scent, which smelled like a mix of fresh air and wild heather.

Then...he felt a soft cheek brush against his, making him halt and plant his claws to the ground. He knew what Jade was doing, but he didn't push her away. Instead, when she leaned away from him, Bearclaw leaned forward and did the same, brushing his furry cheek against hers. They stood side by side, their tails entwined, and they leaned in close, wishing they could stay like this...

_Wait a minute. What the hell am I doing?_

Bearclaw broke away from her and stood there looking at her. Jade looked back in shock while he backed away and padded away hurriedly.

"Moss? What's wrong?" the ginger she-cat asked, worry shining in her beautiful green gaze.

"Uh...it's complicated," Bearclaw replied, looking away from her. "I-I better go."

He picked up the pace, running away from the fountain and leaving a confused Jade behind. Inside, Bearclaw felt terrible; he knew he should not have left her behind and ruined the date. But he felt that he had no choice. The former FireClan cat felt that his worries couldn't wash away like stones washed downstream.

_I'm sorry, Jade. But I can't._

**...**

Irontail was leaning out of the window of his and his nephew's flat when Bearclaw arrived. Said nephew saw that his uncle was looking up and down the street, waiting on his return. Bearclaw opened the door and padded inside without saying anything.

"Hello, Bearclaw," Irontail purred. "How was your date tonight?"

Bearclaw didn't reply; instead, he padded across the floor and into his room, slamming the door behind him without a word. Irontail looked after him for a second with a confused look before turning back to the window to trim the flowerbed. Bearclaw, for the time being, felt bad for not answering his uncle politely.

So he opened the door partially and spoke through the crack between the door and the hinges. "It...it was nice, Uncle."

The gray tabby tom purred as Bearclaw closed the door before tending to his flowers again.

**...**

_**(The Tale Of Tobias)**_

_Tobias watched from his favorite perch as Archie flew up through the clouds and over to the oak tree. There were so many birds' nests hanging from what appeared to be vines on the tree. Up on his perch, Tobias sighed a hawk-like sigh; it was just like the good old days._

_Archie flew beneath the vines, and Tobias sat perched upon the dragon's head. He flew up to a low branch and began eating some cuckoo eggs in a warbler's nest before tossing some down to Archie; in response, the white-furred Asian Lung chewed them flaccidly while spitting out the eggshells. As Tobias continued to peck at a tough eggshell, Archie suddenly let out a very great roar, a roar that echoed for around sky-lengths._

**...**

A flash of thunder made Tobias wake up from his windowsill perch, making him look around in fright. Startled by the thunder that woke him from his dream, Tobias flew down from his perch and into Ashfeather's green EarthClan bag that hung nearby. After a bit of rummaging, he poked his head up and saw a wad of white fur on his head that didn't belong to him.

After peering at a bit, he could see himself flying beside Archie; this was what he was thinking of at that second. With another roar of Archie's, Tobias blinked as he registered whom the fur belonged to. He looked out at the lawn of the Avatar Cat's house from the window. A shadow crossed the ground that looked very similar to Archie's shadow.

Joy coursed through Tobias' veins as he wrapped the wad of fur around one of his legs and took flight. He soared out the window of the house and into the yard to investigate if this shadow did indeed belong to his lost friend. But, alas, as he emerged from a tree he flew up into, he saw that the shadow was merely being cast by a cloud.

He held his leg up and looked at the fur tied to it sadly, but then he cawed as he saw something new. Off in the distance, just on the other side of a roof, was what appeared to be the top of the dragon he was looking for. But when Tobias flew closer, he found out it was only a tree with white leaves and branches sticking out that looked like Archie's horns.

Tobias landed on to one of these branches and lowered his head in disappointment. He had once again failed to find his friend.

**...**

The next morning, Tobias took off towards the city, hoping to find a decent meal. He had to try and get his mind off of Archie, but he couldn't help but feel worried. But he knew what his master would say: put the past behind you.

So he flew downwards towards a fleeing mouse and pinned it down with his talons, crushing it underneath. As he did, he beat his wings towards the ground, which accidentally knocked over a stick sitting nearby due to the wind. It fell to the ground with a loud thud that alerted three small animals who were rummaging in the garbage nearby.

The animals turned out to be three black cobras, some of the most poisonous snakes in the world. Tobias knew how fatal they were; not many cats or hawks would survive if they were bitten by a cobra. Plus, there were the hoods. They were enough to make a hawk paralyzed with fear.

At once, the black snakes leaped at the hawk, but Tobias dodged this in time and flew into a box with an opening big enough for him but not enough for the cobras to follow. The three snakes laid siege to the box and hissed, two of them biting in the openings to try and catch him. Tobias slipped out of an open crack in the back of the box and soared away.

The cobras, however, were in hot pursuit, hissing loudly and spreading out their hoods. Chasing him by slithering on rooftops, one of them managed to wrap themselves around his body and pull him down. After hitting the ground, Tobias got to his feet and ran on foot into a group of cats. But the cobras did not follow their pray into the crowd.

Suddenly, Tobias was dragged to the side by a gray-&-white tabby cat within the crowd and had a little green hat put on his head. Then he was tossed into a gap in the circle of the cats, where two scarlet macaws were already squawking to the beat of a drummer in the background. After standing for a moment, Tobias sang along while dancing in a silly and strange dance called the Glauc-glauc.

The crowd cheered for the dance, but the cobras were slithering just outside the perimeter of cats, looking over their heads at their prey. One of the macaws jumped on top of Tobias' head and balanced with its leg, the other macaw doing the same as Tobias struggled to keep balance. He wasn't a bird of strength; he was supposed to be a bird of prey, for StarClan's sake!

The cobras hissed and finally made their move, all of them leaping into the circle with a spitting sound. Tobias fled again, but this time, as he tried to fly away, one of them wrapped themselves round his middle and was taken for the ride, which slowed him down in the flight. The other two snakes leapt on, and all four creatures crashed to the ground. When the dust cleared, Tobias was pinned to the ground by one of his pursuers while the other two were ready to strike their catch.

However, before they could, a net flew in, captured all four of them, and dragged them off. Tobias saw the hungry looks on the cobras' faces turn to horror, and he agreed with them. He wasn't ready to leave this world yet as fresh-kill, despite the fact that not all cats eat hawks.

Tobias was tossed into a cage, it being locked by placing a peg in to prevent the doors from opening. As the cart began to move away, Tobias rubbed the dragon fur still tied to his leg against his face, fearing he would never see his friend again.

**...**

The four unlucky animals arrived at some sort of butcher, the cart pulling up next to the building. Right through the cage, Tobias could see the animal catcher and the butcher arguing, but since this was from his view, he just heard the dialogue as gibberish. Tobias shook his head, unable to understand the cats; no cat should ever have to fear or hate hawks, in his opinion.

And the words he heard sounded like: "...bird...snakes...eat..."

Hissing sounds from the cage next to him told Tobias that the three cobras were scraping at their cage with their teeth, sounding scared. Getting an idea, Tobias used his sharp talons by reaching through the bars and removing the peg that held his cage shut. As he pushed the cage open and began to fly away, he stopped and looked back. The cobras were staring at him sadly from their cage, realizing their fate rested with him.

At first, Tobias was tempted to just leave them there and get eaten; after all, they tried to eat him as well. But on the other talon, they did look like they were in despair, for the cage used for them was made entirely of glass, thus lacking bars to slip through. Tobias felt sympathy for them in spite of being a hawk; he would hate it if someone else left him to die.

So he flew back to the cart and began to remove the peg to free them, just as the two cats that caught them started to approach. But when the cats reached the cart, they found both cages bare. Right behind them, just in time, Tobias and the cobras made their escape on the rooftops by the cobras wrapping themselves around their legs and letting him lift them up.

**...**

Tobias and his three new friends sat on the roof and watched the gray clouds pass by. One of the cobras was rubbing up against Tobias like a friendly dog while the other two curled up beside him. All three were aware and very grateful for what the red-tailed hawk did for them.

Suddenly, one of the cobras used its fangs to remove the wad of dragon fur from Tobias' leg. The snake with the fur slithered off and Tobias, cawing loudly and angrily, followed as well as the other two cobras. The reptiles slithered down to the ground and led Tobias through the streets of BoulderClan until finally one placed the wad of fur down in a hole in the ground.

Tobias landed in the hole as the cobra slithered off. He looked at this strange hole and saw right away that it was actually a footprint made by none other than Archie, the very dragon Tobias was desperately trying to find. Cawing softly, the hawk settled down on the ground holding the wad of fur under his feet.

The cobras sat to the side nearby, watching, as rain began to fall on Tobias, lying in the only sign of his long lost friend.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**Aang: (Guts up rather suddenly) I better go.**

**Katara: (Surprised) Why?**

**Aang: I know what the next chapter will be about, and I can't stand to see the pain. I-I'm sorry, but I better leave for this episode.**

**AvatarCat12: Oh...okay, then. It's a shame you have to go for a little bit. But I respect your decision, so we'll see you in two more chapters.**

**Aang: Okay. See ya next time! (Shares a kiss with Katara before walking out of the office)**

**Katara: So if it's okay, can we get on with the review thing and the preview for Archie's Missing Days, please? (To the readers) Read and review, please! Those who do will get a plush doll of a character from Madagascar 3, which is coming out this Friday, or some afro circus wigs (I love it when Marty does his Afro Circus dance!). Flames aren't allowed, for they'll be used for making S'Mores, but constructive criticism and advice are.**

**Preview: This chapter tells about Archie's tale from when he gets dragon-napped to trying to find his master. Along the way, he encounters a cruel circus trainer, a pack of territorial Utahraptors, some old friends, and a new friend who wants to help. Will Archie find his dear master soon? Or will he be doomed to wander as a wild dragon forever?**

**Both: See ya next time!**


	17. Archie's Missing Days

**AvatarCat12: Those of you wondering why Aang isn't here today, Katara and I will tell you. He didn't really want to stick around after what happens on this episode.**

**Katara: And you all know how much he loves animals...and so does Avatar Cat here. But I heard that AnthonyAngrywolf wants to see an Ice Age short and asked you if you can help. Are you going to?**

**AvatarCat12: I might try. It's better than nothing. But I'm still trying to find out how to get around the "server information" part.**

**Katara: Oh. Well, if you'd like, then I'd like to say the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: AvatarCat12 owns neither of these series. He blends them together for all of you to enjoy.**

**Summary: ****This chapter tells about Archie's tale from when he gets dragon-napped to trying to find his master. Along the way, he encounters a cruel circus trainer, a pack of territorial Utahraptors, some old friends, and a new friend who wants to help. Will Archie find his dear master soon? Or will he be doomed to wander as a wild dragon forever?**

**Uploading Date: June 25, 2012**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_Archie's Missing Days_

_SandClan cats besieged Archie like a zebra cornered by hyenas while the Asian Lung dragon roared with fury. Nightpaw couldn't try and save Archie, not because she detested him, but it was because she also had to save her feline friends. Without her amazing strength and EarthBending power, they would all die._

_Using ropes with bags of sand tied to the ends for added weight, the SandBending cats steadily pinned Archie down. Archie resisted by shaking his weight to get the ropes off, but he began to slowly weaken. Nightpaw couldn't free herself to free Archie, but she could still move her head, tail, and back paws around._

_"Don't you make me put this down, shitheads!" she snarled, but they didn't listen._

_Furiously, the black she-cat let go of the spire and turned around to attack, extending her right front paw and Bending sand at the SandBenders. The spire began sinking again but quicker than before. The sand wave passed by, missing by a few fox-lengths. Nightpaw turned back around and thrust her forepaws back into the spire. Behind her, Archie was still struggling hard with the SandBenders._

_Behind her, Nightpaw could hear Archie moaning in a frightened way as he was pulled away by the SandClan cats. He was being pulled roughly over the sand and away from the spire of the library._

_"No...stop sinking..." Nightpaw wheezed, but the EarthClan apprentice was tiring out._

_Finally, she let go of the spire once again to send waves of sand towards where the SandClan cats were. But they were gone._

_Going gone._

_No!_

_She stood on her hind legs again, drove her front paws back into the spire, and felt rueful tears leak down her face. She had failed the Warrior Code, protecting those who needed her. Of course Nightpaw was an independent cat and could take care of herself, but she felt horrible for leaving Archie in that mess. And she didn't like Archie at first because of his sloppy attitude, but she had begun to respect the dragon._

_"I'm sorry, Archie," she rasped, her voice croaking in the process. "I'm so sorry..."_

**...**

Archie sighed a dragon sigh of sad resignation. He couldn't believe he was being dragged away from his master and his friends. The white dragon tried shaking a little more, but the ropes tied around him was even tougher than metal. He ended up looking up at the sun shining above the desert sand as the sand-skiffs slid by, hauling Archie behind them.

The young leader of the SandBenders lowers his facemask, revealing a mottled tabby head. He signaled for the three skiffs to come to a halt in an open stretch of desert. Archie felt relieved at not being dragged over the place like a piece or crowfood.

"Muzzle him, then loot the saddle," the mottled tabby tom meowed. "Who knows what treasures lay inside?"

Two SandBending cats rush towards the bound Archie. The dragon roared menacingly, and the two nomads stopped short of him looking back to their leader in terror.

"Damn it, you mouse-hearts! He's tied up!" the tabby tom growled. "He can't hurt you!"

So the two SandClan cats leaped up onto Archie's saddle, kicking up a cloud of dust in his face. The resulting dust caused Archie to snuffle and let loose a tremendous sneeze. The blast of air impacted against the center skiff, sending it shooting up through the air to crash against a sand dune.

A ginger tom asked, "Ghalib, what will your father say when he sees we lost a sand glider?"

Ghalib flicked his tail towards the wrecked glider and replied, "Nothing. It's the one we stole from the Hanging Rock Tribe. Did you empty the saddle?" he asked those searching Archie's saddle. But all they showed were blankets, bones from prey soon to be buried, and rocks.

"That's it? Piles of rubbish?" Ghalib snarled, his nose wrinkling at the smell. He pawed it away before adding, "Oh, it's doesn't matter. We'll still make a profit from selling him to those beetle-brained merchants!"

His ginger companion picked up an umbrella and opened it up, shading himself. Archie knew that was the same umbrella his master and his silver friend had gotten moons ago. But there was now nothing left to do but wait and see what would happen.

Soon enough, the remaining two skiffs were dragging Archie to three large tents grouped out in the open desert. He was dragged into the camp past a group of three ginger cats. Once the skiffs stopped, the tomcats walked around to the front of Archie, stopping to his head to judge him.

"How's his temper?" one ginger tom asked.

Ghalib replied, "Uh...it's good."

But Archie abruptly roared ferociously, causing the merchants to jump back in fear. Satisfied at seeing their startled faces, he fell silent again.

"Most of the time, actually," Ghalib added with a sheepish huff.

One of the ginger toms turned to the first one, meowing, "I bet someone will pay a fortune for him in BoulderClan."

"Ah," the first ginger tom meowed. Turning back to Ghalib and pushing a small box forward, he meowed, "It's a deal."

Ghalib, flanked by two of his fellow SandClan cats, accepted a small ornate chest. He opened it up and looked into it, smiling before closing it and walking off. Archie, meanwhile, felt a sense of fear creep through his white fur like the north wind. Whatever these cats were planning to do to him, he hated to find out what.

A few minutes later, a strange-looking animal was having a harness put on. It had the body, neck, and hump of a one-humped camel, but it had the legs and head of an elephant. It was a sandy-brown color like a camel, but like the elephant, it had a gray head and legs. In the world without Twolegs, many animals (along with hybrid animals) lived with each other.

The camelephant strained at a series of lines attached to its saddle and dragged a bound Archie onto a large sled. Six wooden supports levered over from the sides of the sled, caging the white-furred dragon. Finally, the camelephant was harnessed to the sled while the merchants looked on without helping one bit. The animal looked very tired already, but the merchants didn't look too concerned about its health.

But while Archie laid there feeling defeated, he thought he heard a voice call, "Archie! _Archie!_"

Archie could envision the upset and furious look on his master's face as he flew over the desert, blowing hard on the dragon whistle. His brown eyes opened wide upon hearing the ultrasonic note before watching the camelephant, the array of ropes and a pair of merchants up ahead of him. Archie started moaning and struggling, rocking the entire sled back and forth. Up ahead, the merchants were letting out yowls of surprise.

"HA! He's your problem now!" Archie heard Ghalib jeer as he and his pack ran off.

The two merchants turned back to the sled, which was shaking side to side dangerously. Archie's tail broke the rope holding it down, and with a powerful tail slap, he launched himself, sled and all, into the air and over the camelephant. He flipped over the camelephant and began dragging it through the camp, destroying a tent in the process. The camelephant let out moaning noises of fear as it was dragged over the ground.

"We need some Shirshu darts!" the first merchant, a gray tabby, called.

"Got 'em!" the second merchant, a black cat, replied as he whipped a dart gun from his bag. Up to Archie, he meowed, "Okay, big fella, steady there. You're just gonna have a little snooze."

He loaded the dart gun with Shirshu darts, put one end to his mouth, and fired.

As Archie flew in the air, he felt a small shock of pain enter his body as three small sharp things dug themselves into his right hind foot. Right away, he felt his eyes droop and came to a sliding crash back onto the desert floor. The dragon tried to struggle to his feet, but he had yet another vision as he fell back to the ground.

He could see Goldwing flying about on his glider for around some time. The golden cat had flown around, using the whistle to find his dragon, but there was no luck. With anguish, he landed onto a sandbank and looked out around the horizon. The dragon was nowhere in sight.

"No..." he moaned, anger changing into sorrow. Then, seizing his staff in his jaws, he let out a screech and slammed his staff down onto the ground. "NO!"

Archie's brown eyes opened wearily as he tried to look around him, seeing a large mushroom-shaped cloud out over the horizon. Staring at him, the two merchants stood in front of him as Archie felt his vision fade away until he fell asleep. But before he could fall asleep, he could hear their voices from far away.

"Damn! We gotta get rid of this big guy!" the gray tabby was meowing. "He's way too much trouble!"

"We could sell him for parts," the black cat was replying.

**...**

After a moment, Archie heard a new voice in the darkness. His vision began to recover, and he could see through the bars of a cage. In front of him was a dark ginger tabby cat with the smell of FireClan on his pelt; he was looking over at him from the other side with hunger in his yellow eyes.

Dread surged through the dragon's veins when he saw this cat. How did he end up in FireClan? And why was he in a cage? Goldwing would never put him in a cage!

"I see you've had a hard time, and that's too bad," the tom hissed softly as if he spoke to a she-cat. "You probably felt you had no choice but to behave despicably. Like a fox. But don't worry. You won't anymore," he finished, padding over to the cage and patting Archie on the forehead. Archie felt like this cat was going to help him.

But his hopes died away as the tom hissed with a sinister voice, "Because I will break you like a wild stallion."

When the trainer left, Archie realized that he was enclosed in a circus wagon, and a number of other creatures laid in cages nearby. From the outside, pennants were waving in the wind on the enormous red tent of the Fire nation circus. The Asian Lung dragon had heard of circuses before; Goldwing would often take him to some along with an old friend: Blazepaw. Archie wondered how their old friend was in StarClan.

Archie could see the trainer returning to the tent and pushing a cart of roast hams past a resting Diatryma. He tossed one of the hams back to the monster bird, who caught it in its big bill and munched on it. He pushed it past Archie's cage, and the dragon rose to his feet gradually, his attention on the cart. The smell of the roast meat made Archie's mouth water; it had been a while since he had something to eat.

As he gained his footing, Archie saw that he was chained and manacled to the floor of the cage. Rumbling with displeasure, he began gnawing at the chain on his forepaw. The Trainer stalked past to the cage holding a California condor, who cried out in anticipation. As he fed the large bird, he turned to address Archie, who was watching him and drooling, his tongue hanging out.

"Oh, are you hungry?" the dark ginger tabby asked. When the dragon nodded, he held out a ham and meowed, "Don't worry. I'll feed you too. But first, I'll show you how you earn it."

He pulled the ham back away from Archie's stretched tongue, padded back to the condor, and fed it the ham. He opens its cage, leaving the scavenger to fly out and float overhead. Summoning a whip of fire from his tail, the Trainer cracked it at the condor and rushed forward to conduct its routine. But Archie didn't want to perform; he wanted food.

While Archie stepped away, he used his AirBending skills to suck in a jet of air that pulled the cart full of hams closer to him. He successfully lifted one from the pile and gobbled it down. He pushed the cart back out to see the condor acting out aerial aerobics involving a series of hoops, tossing one to the trainer.

Archie heard the trainer say, "Or course, when you perform, the hoops will be on fire. And if you are careful, you won't get burned."

Not paying attention, Archie sucked up another ham and ate it. After that, he released a loud belch from behind him. But that was a fatal mistake.

"Oh, you'll be sorry!" the dark ginger tabby spat, whirling around on the spot.

Summoning his fire whip, the Trainer created a blaze in front of Archie's cage. Archie reared back, groaned, and roared in distress; he felt sharp pain sear through his forehead as the flames sliced across his head. The Trainer approached his cage, heedless of the flames between them.

He hissed, "Whoever your previous master was, he had no idea how to train you properly!"

Archie was still cowering from the flame attack, for he was getting scared of fire. But he took the chance to snarl at the trainer, who held up the fire whip in a threatening way. At the sight of that, Archie lowered himself to the ground, moaning with misery.

**...**

Lit against the nighttime sky, a large crowd had gathered outside the entrance. Circus music was heard playing, but it was not enough to cheer Archie up. He missed having Goldwing by his side, taking him for rides whenever they wanted to. He missed the WaterClan cats, the black cat, and Tobias.

Archie looked up to see a black-&-ginger tomkit padding past the open tent flap. He reappeared quickly, green eyes wide in amazement. He saw the caged dragon inside the tent, trying to pull a heap of ham towards himself with his wind breath. His efforts to bring it to him came to nothing instead of success. The Asian Lung dragon laid down before turning to exchange looks with the amazed kit and mad a licking gesture with his tongue.

The kit smiled, nodded, and seemed ready to enter, but he didn't get the chance. Instead, a large mud-colored tom came up behind him abruptly.

"I'm gonna go get some spicy cheese sticks," he rumbled to the kit. Flicking his tail at Archie, he growled, "Stay away from that beast. Behave yourself, or else."

The kit watched him stomp off with a passive look, and then he turned back to the tent opening. Rushing inside, he started rolling the cart of ham to Archie, who gave him a friendly lick before chowing down on three hams at once. But suddenly, the kit quickly dashed back outside; Archie supposed he had heard something.

And then he heard the voice. The voice of the trainer. A new voice told him that there was a new cat that had joined up with him. The new cat was revealed to be a dark gray mottled cat.

"That white beast is out of control! He is stubborn and willful," the trainer was telling him. "I just need more time with him. But right now, it's too risky!"

"_Too risky_? What the hell do you mean?" the dark gray tom spat furiously. "This is the circus! Home of fear and danger, the same two things back in the Twoleg days! I want that Sky Lizard to perform tonight!" he added before stalking away.

Growling in his throat, the dark ginger tabby spat at Archie, "Listen, you! You're going out there to perform tonight! And if you don't perform well, you'll regret it!"

Stepping forward, he created a large torch of flame before Archie, who shrunk back in his cage and growled in fear. The trainer stomped off, leaving Archie feel even more dejected than ever. Goldwing would also never attack his pets if they misbehaved; he would spend time fixing their argument. But around here, things were more different...and harsher.

A gasp made Archie look up; he could see the small black-&-ginger kit watching the scene from the edge of the tent flap. He looked sad for his new friend, but that was gone as he shared another friendly look with Archie. The large tomcat from before came up behind him and started herding him away. The big gray cat was muttering for him to move while holding a bag of some kind of spicy smell coming from it.

"See ya later, big guy!" the kit squeaked as he was scooted forward.

As his waving tail vanished, Archie turned and settled down in his cage with a deep sorrowful sigh.

**...**

Fear rushed through Archie's pelt as he was held behind a curtain. He could imagine all the stuff going on above him; he paid no attention to the cheering as he was steered onto the stage. Archie could imagine the circus going in progress. Two she-cats would be spinning plates on top of long sticks, two Diatryma would be in outfits and balancing on large balls, and a group of toms would be standing in a pyramid.

Archie would normally be happy to see a circus; before he was frozen, he would enjoy watching other animals perform. But after being whipped, he now saw the horrors of animals being raised and trained for the circus. He no longer liked circuses; to him, they were now pits and hellholes of torture, abuse, and damnation.

"Cats of FireClan!" he heard the Ring Master meow loudly. "We have something special for you tonight! We have a noble beast so glorious and rare that it hasn't been seen by the eyes of cats for moons! We give you...the Sky Lizard!"

And the curtain dropped to reveal Archie. He felt ashamed and ridiculous in make-up and frilly costumes, dressed up like a poodle. While he pawed unhappily at the fake beard, he could see the crowd laughing at him while the black-&-ginger kit looked at him with sympathy. Now he had no choice but to join the Trainer in the center of the ring.

"Up!" the dark ginger tabby tom meowed.

Growling, Archie turned away from him. This caused the crowd to laugh at this.

The Trainer turned away from the crowd and snarled at Archie, "I said UP, you cheeky gecko!"

He created a fire whip with his tail and cracked it at Archie, who roared at him in defiance. In the audience, the black-&-ginger kit jumped up from his seat, cheering for him.

"Run away! Get away from them!" he squealed, getting up from his seat while jumping up and down. The big gray cat next to him just put his forepaw on his head and pushed him back down.

The Circus trainer, whip ablaze, coaxed Archie into rising upward, to the wonder of the crowd. The spectators cheered, but the young kit looked heartbroken at seeing Archie perform a series of aerial acrobatics through flaming hoops. His costume caught fire as he passed through the second hoop, and he tail-slapped the third one, sending it hurtling to smash into the Circus trainer. The dark ginger tabby was knocked senseless to the ground, making Archie smirk a dragon smirk.

Archie looked down at the audience as they laughed at this scene, the young kit among them. All of a sudden, the Asian Lung was intensely reminded of Goldwing when the kit laughed; it was just like what his master would be like. Wanting to find him, Archie growled and shook the fake beard off as he tried to poke at the ceiling with one long foreclaw.

"Go on," the black-&-ginger kit was mewing encouragingly. "You can do it!"

Feeling reassured, Archie started to rise into the air, his body twisting around in the air. But he was foiled by a blast of fire from below that sent him in the other direction.

"Get down here, stupid brute!" the Trainer spat furiously, creating another fire whip with his tail.

But Archie was ready this time. As soon as the Trainer whipped the whip at him, he struck him with an upward tail lash, sending him hurtling up and through the roof of the tent, sailing in a high arc. Satisfied, the dragon looked down to see the cats looking up at him with shock at this attack.

Archie crashed through an opening in the tent's roof, shedding the rest of his costume as he did so. He could imagine the smiling young kit looking upward at the dangling remains of the freed dragon's costume. Archie let out a roar and soared away into the night, the lights of the circus fading away below him.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Archie soared above the desert in the early dawn, as he came upon the crater left by the waning Library. He could remember the tower, and he landed in the crater, pawing at the sand. With a great bellow of despair, he collapsed onto his belly in the center of the crater.

His friends were gone, never to be seen again. And he was a wild dragon now.

**...**

The manacled dragon flew above the desert floor, his belly rumbling with hunger. Spying a large egg lying on the desert floor, Archie landed heavily next to it. But just before he could lap it up with his tongue, a small marmot rushed up, snatched it up, and fled into the rocks with the egg held high. Growling angrily, Archie lurched off to the side.

He saw a desert hare standing next to a small cactus in the distance, and swooped over to it, his mouth drooling. But his huge size scared the small animal off, making Archie growl in anger. So he bit off the entire cactus, but he spat it out, roaring in pain and wagging his hurt tongue, for the spines had pierced his tongue. Angry that he couldn't eat anything, he had no choice but to get up and fly away.

Archie was flying low over the midday desert when he began sniffing the air with interest; it smelled like honey. He flew toward a large stone plateau and zipped into one of the openings in the gigantic mud pile built atop it. But then, the dragon zoomed back out, hotly pursued by an angry swarm of buzzards with bees buzzing after them. Wheeling about in the air, he sent them crashing to the desert floor with a great wind-gust sweep of his tail. Stunned, the buzzards rose into the air and flew slowly back to their hive.

Gasping and panting, Archie landed on the ground, his pelt sticky from honey. Rolling onto his side, he hungrily lapped the honey from his fur, the honey tasting rather strange yet satisfying. He collapsed into the sand with a satisfied exhausted sigh.

**...**

It was sunset as Archie flew over greener less deserted lands. Looking tired and messy, he flew in to land on a farm, entering a large domed barn. He pinned down a small pig in there and gulped it down in one bite, feeling a bit better. After he ate, he flopped down and immediately lapsed into a very deep slumber...

_At the Eastern AirClan camp built high upon three mist shrouded peaks, there was an adorable baby dragon spinning around in the air. It was joined by four others and an adult green dragon. The cooing hatchlings flew in a circle around the adult, and then they paused to nuzzle their mother before flying downward, the adult in tow._

_Below, a group of small kits were taking cooked chickens from a large bowl held by an elderly light brown she-cat with gray eyes and a white arrow stripe. One kit looking up was a young golden kit with dark gray eyes, looking up at the dragons with awe. The kittens took a chicken each and padded forward while listening to the light brown she-cat's advice._

"_Remember, young ones: A dragon is a friend for life," she meowed. "So choose wisely."_

"_Yes, Shineleaf," the kits mewed before going to each dragon hatchling._

_The family of dragons landed on the terrace in front of the kittens, and the golden kit padded to a young Archie. The kit held out the chicken, which the hatchling sniffed before opening his mouth and letting him toss it in. Archie squealed with surprise as the kit rubbed his face warmly against his head, who responded by knocking him to the ground and licking his face lovingly._

_As Archie continued to lick the kit, said kit purred, "Hey there, big guy! I'm Goldkit! I guess we'll be together forever, huh?"_

_Archie nodded while wagging his long tail before licking his face again. Goldkit squealed with glee as his new companion did so._

_Always..._

With a groan of sadness, Archie rose up from his sleeping spot. He could see Goldwing saying this in his sleep somewhere; Archie himself had repeated this in his dragon language. But his beloved master was buried under the sand now, never to come out, and so were his friends. A yawn escaped from his jaws, and Archie laid back down, ready to sleep.

"Ahhh! Monster!"

Archie was roused from his sleep as he got back up. In front of him was a brown tomcat, his yellow eyes wide with horror as he wielded a pitchfork, his gray mate behind him. Archie let out an angry roar and rose to his feet; he just wanted sleep, but it was snatched away from him. He knew he had to get away fast or he could get killed or caught...or both.

The farmer cat's mate came to the barn entrance, carrying a bright torch in her jaws. Seeing the blazing torch and recalling his fears of the circus, Archie reared onto his hind legs in pure panic, sending the couple running and screaming. In a full panic, Archie rose up through the roof of the barn and sent up a rush of wind that doused the torch carried by the couple, who lied sprawled in the dirt.

At first, Archie was tempted to turn back and beg for food, but he didn't want to turn back. So instead, he soared higher into the air until he was flying towards the moon.

**...**

Bearclaw's sides rose and fell while he slept while Irontail sat by his side on the ferryboat. He wondered when he and his nephew would arrive at BoulderClan, but he decided to stay patient. _Patience had its own rewards,_ he had heard many great warriors say.

Suddenly, he saw a dark shape flying above the boat. At first, Irontail thought this was a cloud covering the moon, showing StarClan's disapproval. However, a closer look told the fat gray tabby that it was the Avatar Cat's Asian Lung dragon. Oddly enough, there was no saddle on the great reptile's back, and there were no cats or hawk on top.

_Where did the Avatar Cat go? _Irontail thought, groaning with wonder. _Did he desert his dragon?_

"Uncle?" Bearclaw's voice made Irontail turn to see his nephew raising his great shaggy head. "Is something there? What're you staring at?"

"Um...nothing," Irontail lied to Bearclaw. "Just go back to sleep, my nephew."

Bearclaw gave a shrug and laid back onto his side, fast asleep. Irontail sighed with relief and looked up again to the sky, hoping the dragon would show up once again.

**...**

Archie descended towards forested hills and crashed groggily near a tree-capped mine entrance. He found a huge termite mound and began digging through it, eating the soft grubs inside. He had just started licking his claws clean when he was roused by a loud squealing echoing from the mine entrance. Growling, the dragon got down to all fours, ready for one more fight.

Right when he got down to the ground, an enraged Utahraptor charged out of the mine, crashing into him and sending them both rolling down the hillside. Both of them crashed to a halt below, and Archie felt pain in his left foreleg; one of the raptor's toe claws got stuck in there. Archie and his foe both roared a challenge and began to circle one another. Suddenly the big dinosaur charged at Archie's side, plowing the Asian Lung into a tree that snapped in two from the impact. Seizing the tree in his mouth, Archie threw it at the raptor, driving it back into a line of trees.

Growling in rage over its dead pack mate, another Utahraptor leapt over the tree, charging at the dragon. Rearing on his hind legs, Archie caught the attacking dinosaur by the head and threw it deep into the forest. The Utahraptor finally lost courage and fled into the night, leaving its dead pack mate behind.

Panting heavily from exertion, Archie looked over his pelt; he was now covered in scars, blood dripping from the scratches. He grabbed the raptor claw in his pelt with his teeth and pulled it out hard, the ground trembling from his roar of agony. After this was over, he half stumbled up the hill to the mine entrance and collapsed inside, utterly tired and unable to clean himself.

Days passed, and Archie was still unconscious. He had no hope left.

**...**

The pigeon looked up as Echo slunk through the brambles toward it. Even though she was just an island-guard, the ruddy tabby she-cat could hunt as well as any prey-hunter. Some time ago, she and two of her Tribemates had left Heavyrose Island, hoping to spread some good into the world, like Ashfeather and his friends. Echo hoped her mate was doing well in cheering Goldwing up.

Quickly, the pigeon looked around while Echo crept closer, careful to lift her tail up from the ground. However, her short pelt was brushing against the brambles, making rustling noises in the process. Echo leaped forward and got to the pigeon when it was just taking off, swiping her claws at it. Tail feathers got caught in her claws, but the pigeon was flying away, calling an alarm.

_Damn! It got away!_

"Bad luck there, Echo," Finch That Sings At Dawn, a pale ginger she-cat, spoke up kindly. "You nearly had that pigeon!"

"I know, Finch. Thanks for the comfort," Echo replied, dipping her head in respect.

The head island-guard padded back to beside her Tribemate and went to search for their other friend, Lily Petal Over Water. They saw the gray she-cat sniffing at something red on the dirty ground, along with something white on the bushes.

"Must've been quite a fight," Lily remarked, plucking the white something from its branches.

Echo looked on with awe as she recognized that thing. She called to Lily, "Let me see that," and padded over to her Tribemate, sniffing at the thing. Her bluish-green eyes widened with shock when she recognized the scent, a scent of mountains and fear.

"Archie? It can't be!"

Finch looked at her. "The Avatar Cat's dragon? How the hell did he show up around here? That's what I'd like to know."

Echo followed her friends' gazes up the side of the hill, a devastated scene of broken trees and stripped earth. She followed the path of destruction, climbing up the bluff and finally pulling herself up to the top, her friends following warily. When Echo got to the top of the bluff, she had to hold back a cry of shock and sorrow at what she saw.

Archie was lying in the shadow of the mine entrance. His clean white fur was now dirty and messy with his own blood; there was even a red scar right in the center of his forehead. It looked like he was either beaten by a FireBender or attacked by a wild animal.

"Oh no...Archie!" Echo called.

Stirred by her voice, Archie shrank back into the mine, snarling. As Echo approached the injured dragon, she saw chains on his legs as well as various injuries he withstood. The red tabby she-cat recalled burying some prey around the spot, so she took a rabbit she caught near the stream and dug up. Crouching near the entrance, she laid her catch down in front of him.

Disturbed by his new hatred for cats, Echo mewed soothingly, "Archie, it's gonna be okay. I'll go get some help, so I'll see you in a few rabbit-leaps!"

She turned around and hurried back down the bluff. Behind her, Archie stepped out and warily sniffed at the rabbit. Echo slid down the bluff and joined up with her friends, who were giving her confused looks. After she had explained what happened to Archie, Echo started giving them instructions on how to approach him.

"Now don't make any sudden movements," she instructed them. "He's been lost for a while, and he looks like he's hurt. He's shy and gets scared easily. So stay low and be quiet."

"I can't believe you found the Avatar Cat's dragon!" Lily mewed, amazement in her mew. "Hey, didn't you see the Avatar Cat a few days ago?"

Echo nodded. "Yes. Goldwing can't be too far from here. Right now, we'll make it our mission to bring Archie back to him safely. This could be our most important job yet."

The red tabby island-guard turned away and began climbing carefully up the side of the bluff as she heard a grunt; Archie must have lain back inside the mine entrance. Echo turned to see her friends climbing after her, determination seen on their faces. Turning, she led the prey-hunters up the rest of the way, pausing at the top of the hill.

Archie noticed them, but he didn't greet them happily like he used to. Instead, he resignedly rose to his feet, roaring an angry warning.

"Get back! He needs space!" Echo ordered her friends. As they did, she stepped towards the dragon and murmured softly, "Archie, remember me? It's me, Echo; I'm a friend of Goldwing's."

She padded onwards to Archie, who groaned warily and stepped away. "Look, we want to help you," Echo told him, flicking her tail towards her friends. "You're hurt, and we want to help you. And we'll help you find Goldwing. We promise."

She reached her left forepaw up to Archie and rubbed his snout, but he didn't pull away this time. Instead, he gave a sigh and laid down, closing his eyes in acceptance.

Echo looked down at the chains on Archie's legs and frowned; whoever chained him up like this must have been cruel. She led the dragon out of the mine entrance by using the rabbit she caught earlier (Archie hadn't touched it yet) and led him down the hill to her Tribemates. When they got there, Echo padded to the chains, picked up a nearby rock, and began hacking at the chains. To her relief, the chains broke away, and Archie stretched his legs happily.

At once, Finch and Lily padded forward and started licking away the blood caked to his fur with their smooth tongues, making Archie sigh. They had also gathered some herbs for the duration of their travels, so they plastered healing herbs like cobwebs and lamb's ear onto him. As the herbs took effect, the she-cats decided to braid his fur to make him look better.

_Well, that's done, _Echo purred to herself while Archie licked Finch's face happily. _Now all we have to do is-_

But suddenly, Archie let out a low snarl, his long barbels quivering with fear. Echo felt worried at what the dragon was doing. She thought, _What's going on? What's making Archie look scared now?_

_CRACK!_

A flash of lightning shot out from the bushes and struck a large rowan tree behind Archie. The rowan tree ended up falling down to the ground and on fire as a result. Echo looked from the Asian Lung Dragon, who was growling with fright, and gasped with surprise at the maker of the lightning attack.

Three giant basilisk lizards were dashing towards them and halted before them, but it wasn't either lizard that created the lightning. There were three she-cats riding on top of them. Two of them on each side seemed to be followers: one was a white she-cat with pale gray stripes, black head fur, and gray eyes, and the other was a dark tortoiseshell she-cat with bored amber eyes. The cat in the center was jet black with yellow eyes and lightning crackling around her claws.

"Well, well, well," the black she-cat meowed, a sneer on her face; she was speaking to Archie. "You're easy to find, aren't you? I'm rather surprised my brother hasn't caught you yet."

Immediately, Finch and Lily prowled forth and placed themselves between Archie and the new invaders. Echo sniffed the scents of the intruders; they smelled strongly of FireClan. Whoever these she-cats were, they weren't here for a friendly visit.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

The Tribe cats arched their backs and unsheathed their claws as they faced the FireClan she-cats. Echo heard a growl behind her and turned to see Archie rearing up onto his hind legs, snarling a warning to keep back. The red tabby she-cat turned back around to confront the intruders.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Echo asked them.

"I am Frostfire, deputy of FireClan," the black she-cat told her scornfully. Flicking her tail at her companions, she added, "The white she-cat is Aya, and the tortoiseshell is Rose. And just who the hell might YOU be? The Avatar Cat's fans?"

Aya, the white she-cat, tilted her head to one side as if thinking. Then a smile spread across her face as she mewed, "I get it! They're his fans, and _they_ have fans themselves! That's a good one, Frostfire!"

Echo ignored the laughing Aya and turned back to Frostfire. "If you're searching for the Avatar Cat, then you're out of luck. He's not here."

"Well, great," Rose, the dark tortoiseshell she-cat sighed. "I knew this was a waste of time."

Frostfire frowned at her for a bit, as if her friend caught a bad fish. But instead, she turned back to Echo, shrugged, and meowed, "So he's not here, eh? No matter. But that's fine with me, for any friend of the Avatar Cat is an enemy of mine."

As she finished saying this, the black she-cat made a spinning leap from her saddle, sending a blast of blue fire towards the Tribe cats. They leapt forth to form a shield wall in front of Archie, deflecting the fire blast. Echo was shocked about the blue fire; she had never seen blue fire being Bended before, one of the hottest fires. But she couldn't stop to think about it. Now they had to try and protect Goldwing's dragon.

Rose and Aya leapt out of their saddles to engage the three Tribe cats in combat. Rose, landing on all four paws, produced a brace of throwing stilettos from her bag. With a sweeping throw, she pinned a startled Lily to a tree by her neck fur, making her yowl. In front of her, Rose stared back at her with bored and disgusted amber eyes.

"Your pelt looks so colorful...it makes me sick!" she hissed.

At this, she spun around and hurled a barrage of throwing-arrows at Finch, who caught each one in midair and threw them back. Then the pale ginger she-cat rushed towards Aya, taking a few claw swipes at the white she-cat. But Aya nimbly dodged her slashes before flooring her down with a flurry of pressure-point strikes.

While Finch fell to the ground, Aya tossed her head back and spat, "You're _not_ prettier than _we_ are, mange-pelts!"

Meanwhile, Echo continued to stand between Frostfire and Archie, blocking her fire blasts with her body and shield. A stray bit of fire slashed across her shoulder, making her grunt in pain, but she did not want to let the evil cat get away with that. She rose to her paws steadily and held her shield in front of her, blood oozing from her shoulder. Frostfire's second more powerful blast ricocheted off Echo's shield, setting fire to the tree she had felled initially.

As it caught on fire, Archie cowered back from the leaping flames. Frostfire watched him with a sneer on her face. "Afraid of a little fire, eh?" she hissed. "Well, that's good. You _should_ be."

"Archie, go!" Echo called, lashing her tail at Archie. "Fly away! Get out of here! Hurry!"

While Archie rose to the sky, Echo charged at Frostfire. The FireClan she-cat made an amazing straight mid-air spin, at once avoiding the thrust of a dagger and sending it flying from her teeth to imbed in a tree. Echo blocked another fire blast with a headbutt, but Frostfire countered with a kick to the head, making the red tabby fall to the ground.

Pausing at the sight of Echo in danger, Archie turned around and flew back down to help. Ready to finish Echo off, Frostfire dodged a pair of clawed paws holding fans hurled at her back and turned to launch a revengeful attack. Echo rose to her paws slowly, rushing forth to wave off the approaching white dragon.

She grabbed a burning branch in her jaws and waved it at Archie, yowling through a mouthful of bark, "Get out of here! Go find Goldwing! He's alive! We'll see these cats off!"

Clearly torn, Archie finally backed away and flew off into the sky.

Smiling in relief, Echo barely reacted in time to block a blast of blue fire with her shield. Reeling backwards, she fell into a battle-stance, unfolding her war fan in her jaws. Frostfire greeted this gesture with contempt.

"You mouse-brained fool," the black cat scoffed. "Don't you know fans make fire stronger?"

Echo snarled and took one step closer, her red tabby fur bristling and her claws bared. Then she let out a battle screech and threw herself at Frostfire, who did the same thing. The two she-cats ended up in a whirlwind of fur, claws, and fangs, blood splattering the ground during their fight.

**...**

Archie flew above the forest before flying along a river among a flock of white herons. He had wanted to protect Echo, but his friend had told him to go and find Goldwing, his master. Giving a groan of acceptance despite being happy that his owner was still alive, he followed the herons as they flew to the ocean for their nightly feeding time. But by the time he got there, night had fallen, and it had begun to rain.

The dragon kept his head low as he flew through dark skies in a heavy downpour, passing above a pair of ships sailing through the rains. On the deck of one of the vessels, he saw a tom staring up at the Asian Lung Dragon in wonder. This cat had a dark gray pelt like Ashfeather, except this cat wasn't a tabby. What was stranger was that he had a left dark blue eye and a right pale blue eye. Archie ignored this cat and flew on through the clouds.

**...**

Archie flew slowly over misty peaks until, in the distance, he recognized the ruins of the eastern AirClan camp, his birthplace. The white dragon entered the broken weedy ruins of the dragon stalls, remembering what it once looked like. It had been restored with young dragon hatchlings frolicking through its warm hay covered halls.

Resuming his journey through the stalls, Archie came across a round metal framework, and he could remember when dragon hatchlings would be teething at it. Archie focused on the present and chomped on the ring, but the dust caused him to cough. Realizing it was no longer good, he left it unsatisfied.

Crossing one of the spans, Archie passed through and stepped out onto a terrace. Framed against the rising sun was a tall and lean figure sitting at the end of the terrace. Mistaking the figure for Goldwing, Archie bounded forth and knocked the figure on his back, licking its face with gusto while it grunted with surprise. Then what he saw next made him stop.

This was not Goldwing; in fact, this was not a cat at all. It was a skinny gray animal with a semi-short snout with a colorful face of red, orange, and yellow, wide brown eyes, feet that looked rather flat and bare, a short tail, and a staff in its hand. It even had a thin white beard encircling its chin and cheeks. This was a mandrill, an animal a tad like a Twoleg, and one of the strangest animals around.

The mandrill blinked in wonder up at Archie before calmly talking in a thick African accent, "Hello, mighty dragon. I am Guru Rafiki, though you may just call me Rafiki."

Archie let out a growl of surprise and leaped back, snarling and showing his pearly white fangs.

"I know I am not the one you expected," Rafiki explained, getting up. "And I did not expect to be licked by a long tongue right now, a tongue longer than mine. This world is full of surprises."

But Archie just gave him a long menacing growl, yet the old baboon calmly laid back down, closing his eyes. However, this had been kept up for hours.

Later, Rafiki raised his head to look at the waiting dragon, who was still growling at him. Thus, he had to lie back down and close his eyes again. Still later, he looked up again and peeked open an eye to peer at Archie, who again issued a low growl. Once again, Rafiki laid back down and closed his eyes.

Night fell, and Archie was finally asleep on one side, snoring loudly. Opening his eyes, Rafiki nimbly rolled backwards to his feet, stood up, and dusted his hands in satisfaction. Rubbing his hands together, he walked up to the chest of the slumbering Archie, his staff still in his right hand. He touched the Asian Lung's neck with two fingers, and then he placed his left hand on his leathery chest plate.

"Oh my. You have been through so much lately, haven't you? Hurt and betrayed, twisted on the inside," Rafiki said, running two thin fingers along Archie's underside and placing a hand on his belly. "You are still full of love. But fear has moved in where trust should be," he sighed.

He looked around the temple as he went on, "I have been expecting you and the Avatar Cat for a long time. It was ever since the great kings of the past and StarClan gave this job to me. I had a vision years ago of helping him. That's why I had come to the Eastern AirClan camp's temple." He stood near the restless Archie's head and placed a hand on his brow.

"Ah," he sighed, closing his eyes and nodding. "Your emotions are stormy. Like swirling storm clouds. May the clouds in your mind be gentle peaceful ones."

As he said this, Archie finally fell into a deep pleasant sleep. Rafiki chuckled a bit to himself and walked away from the dragon, plucking a gourd fruit from a vine. He pulled it open with his thin yet strong hands, the juice splattering the ground, and took a bite from it, observing Archie and waiting.

**...**

The sun shone through Archie's eyelids as he blinked them open. He couldn't believe morning had finally come already. But the scent of food floated its way into his dragon nose as he looked down. In front of him was a small pile of hares and rabbits, the smallest prey for a dragon yet so delicious. Archie took a rabbit from the pile and gulped it down, fur and all.

Turning, he noticed another piece of rabbits and still another, until he began eating his way back into the temple behind him. He began climbing a staircase curving around its side and up on the way to the top, the Clan camp behind him. On its top was a stone dais, surrounded by a rock garden and a thicket of trees. Archie climbed up the stairs up to the base of the platform.

There, he could see Rafiki, sitting in a meditative pose with an anhinga perched on his head. The mandrill was surrounded by other birds and small woodland creatures. He held out a handful of seeds, and another anhinga landed on it, nibbling on the seed.

"Good morning. Judging your bed head, someone seems well-rested!" Rafiki chuckled as Archie crouched low in a greeting and shook his head.

**...**

That night on the same day, the moon shone in the sky like a big white firefly. On the stone dais, Archie had watched Rafiki meditate only to stop for lunch and dinner before going back. During that time, Archie had curled himself around the old monkey and took a few naps in between, allowing him to stroke his fur now and then.

Finally, Rafiki opened his brown eyes, got up onto his feet (staff in one hand), and walked over to the slumbering Archie. He reached a gentle hand out and stroked the dragon's belly, making Archie wake up and look over at him. Smiling, Rafiki fished out a scroll and an eagle feather quill out of his bag and began writing. Finished, he rose to his feet and walked over to him again.

"I have prepared a message for Goldwing. May I attach this to one of your horns?" the baboon asked.

Archie lowered his head and allowed him to tie the message there. Over the past few days, he had started to trust Rafiki, after all he had done for him during that time. When this was done, Rafiki touched Archie's forehead with his hand and started rubbing it softly.

"Ah...the energies of you and the Avatar Cat are mixed," he murmured. "Together, you have a strong bond. By reading your energy, _I_ can sense where Goldwing is_._"

In reply, Archie gratefully licked his face with his great tongue. Rafiki chuckled, "Funny, what invisible strings connect us all in the Circle of Life."

Placing his hand on Archie's brow, he closed his eyes and began to breathe slowly. Archie did the same, hoping to see where his master was currently at; this reminded him of how the small black cat named Nightpaw sensed the earth around her. Trying to focus, Archie closed his eyes even tighter and tried to focus.

Then he felt it. He could feel a pale light emit from them both, and a path of light twisted away down the side of the peak. Archie had heard stories of BoulderClan, but he had no idea he was able to go there at last.

He opened his eyes as Rafiki continued running his hand over his forehead. The baboon opened his eyes and murmured, "I shall see you and your friend very soon, great gallant beast."

**...**

Archie was now soaring down toward the city of BoulderClan. Silhouetted by the full moon, he passed over the inner wall and over the roofs below. He could not wait to see Goldwing again; his owner and his friends were still alive. They had escaped from the sinking library and had perhaps crossed the desert all by themselves. So he hovered over the city, looking about for signs of his beloved master.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped wide in excitement as he heard the recognizable sound of the dragon whistle. It was what always summoned him over to Goldwing; he hated the sound, but thanks to his love for his master, he would always bear it. He flew down rapidly, landing in an open square in the city's lower circle and bounding down a street.

As Archie turned around a corner, a tomcat stepped out into the light, revealing himself as not his master, but a red-brown tom with a black lion-like mane and yellow-green eyes. He stalked forward, lowering the whistle. Archie retreated back and growling, leaving a large footprint in the mud. With an EarthBending gesture, the tom caused the entire street section to revolve like a trap door, dropping the dragon into a passage beneath the city.

As the dust settle, all there was left...was a footprint.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Okay, the chapter is over. So where's Aang at?**

**Katara: He said he'll come over in the next chapter. And I even heard of how you spent the week at your dad's last week. How was it?**

**AvatarCat12: It was great! And I even got to see Madagascar 3, where almost all of the people in the audience chanted with Marty's "Afro Circus" scene.**

**Katara: (Smiles) I'm glad to hear that. Now we'll go on with the review part and the preview for Lake Mossrock.**

**AvatarCat12: Got it. (To the readers) Read and review, everyone! Those who do will get a virtual rainbow afro like from Madagascar 3. Flames are never allowed on here, but advice and constructive criticism will be appreciated.**

**Preview: Goldwing and his friends are back on the search for Archie, but so far, they're having no luck. However, as they encounter an old enemy who tells them where Archie is, will they trust this cat? Meanwhile, Bearclaw hears about Archie and decides to go back to hunting the Avatar Cat.**

**Both: See ya next time!**


	18. Lake Mossrock

**AvatarCat12: I'm still working hard on my stories, but World Of Warcraft's still keeping me at bay. I mean, I love the game, but it's keeping me distracted.**

**Katara: Why not take a break from it?**

**AvatarCat12: I have until August 21 to play it, since it lets me play for 60 days.**

**Aang: That's right. I don't like it that much, but I DO like watching it. Now let's go on with the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: AvatarCat12 owns neither series! Never have, never will.**

**Summary: Goldwing and his friends are back on the search for Archie, but so far, they're having no luck. However, as they encounter an old enemy who tells them where Archie is, will they trust this cat? Meanwhile, Bearclaw hears about Archie and decides to go back to hunting the Avatar Cat.**

**Uploading Date: July 3, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**Lake Mossrock**_

Goldwing and Silverheart prowled through the crowded streets, papers in their jaws and papers in their bags over their arms. After getting bored of hanging around, AvatarClan had decided to go ahead and search for Archie again. They didn't care if Joo Dee told the leader or Longfang that they were breaking any rules, as long as they had Archie back. Excitement coursed through their pelts at the thought of seeing the Asian Lung dragon again.

When they opened the doors, they could see an array of messy stuff. On the table they would talk together at, there were some absurdly-drawn pictures sprawled out. Ashfeather was lying flat on his belly, working on what seemed to be another sketch. Beside him, Nightpaw was lazing about on one of the soft boulders, Tobias picking insects off her paws.

_Well...as long as someone's doing something..._

"Hey, guys! We found a printer to make our pictures!" Silverheart purred, dropping a poster down onto the ground to show them.

It was an expert rendition of Archie, a picture of Goldwing, and a dense script. Goldwing smiled and flicked his tail at it. It read:

_Have you seen this dragon? His name is Archie, weighs ten tons, has white fur, and is an Asian Lung Dragon. If you have any information for where he is, please contact Avatar Cat Goldwing in the upper ring, 95th street, house 217._

"Wait a minute," Ashfeather mewed, standing up to look at it. "I thought designing 'the lost dragon poster' was MY idea! I mean, I've been working hard on my Archie all day!"

He held up a crudely drawn picture of Archie in his jaws, giving them a smile. But what he got next wasn't what he really wanted.

"Um, Ashfeather?" Goldwing meowed, puzzled, while Silverheart struggled to hold back her laughter. "Archie has an arrow on top of his _head_."

Ashfeather pointed his paw to the sketch and replied, "This IS his head."

"Then why are there feet growing out from it?" Silverheart asked, taking a closer look.

"Those are his horns," Ashfeather growled defensively, snatching the sketch back and hanging his head. "Look, I just haven't seen him for a moon, okay?"

"It sure looks like him to me," Nightpaw meowed from her spot.

Ashfeather smiled and purred, "Thanks, Nightpaw. I've worked really hard on...why do you feel the need to tease me?" he asked, his smile fading.

Silverheart rolled her eyes at this little exchange. "Okay, let's just stick with the expert version."

Her brother just growled and tore his crudely drawn sketch to pieces. Goldwing and Silverheart shared glances with one another; they knew the dark gray tabby tom took pride in his sketches. But they decided to put that to the side and go on with their business.

"All right, guys! Let's get busy!" Goldwing broke the silence happily, two leaflets in his jaws.

He dashed out the door, Tobias flying after him, and stared climbing up onto the roof, thanking his extinct Clan for the leaping and climbing skills he had this day. When he and Tobias finally got to the top, they started dropping leaflets all over onto the street, to the confusion of several cats on the streets. Tobias even dropped three leaflets onto the ground next to three cobras, which took the leaflets and slithered away.

Goldwing realized that those cobras were the only animals that paid attention to the leaflets. The other cats below just gave each other confused looks before padding away.

**...**

At the tiny cream shop where Bearclaw and Irontail were working, Irontail was happily pouring cream for a wealthily dressed brown tabby and his bodyguards. The fat gray tabby tom was more than happy to serve everyone, no matter if they were either higher or lower than he. But as for Bearclaw, he didn't seem happy; he would even hole himself away in his room on several days. And right now, the dark brown tabby tom was still hiding.

As Irontail padded away, they lapped their cream and smiled at each other, then they rose to their paws to approach him. Irontail wondered what they wanted.

"So you're the mastermind behind this tasty cream!" the brown tabby purred. "The whole city is talking about you right now! I hope Hornbill pays you well!" he added, waving a paw covered in jewels.

"Good cream is its own reward," Irontail replied warmly, smiling.

The brown tabby went on, "I am Bamboo, and I am here to tell you that it doesn't have to be your only reward. How would you, sire, like to open up your own cream shop?"

Irontail felt his heart race at the sound of that. _My own cream shop?_ He even squeaked like a little kit out loud, "M-My own cream shop? It's a dream come true!"

"What's going on here?" Hornbill meowed, stepping in between the stranger and his employee. "Are you trying to poach my ultimate cream maker?"

"I'm sorry," Bamboo apologized, dipping his head to the creamy tom. "I suppose it's business, am I correct?"

Hornbill looked around at Irontail and meowed, "Listen, Warthog, if you stay, I'll promote you to Assistant Manager! No, _Senior_ Assistant Manager!"

Bamboo insisted to the gray tabby elder, "If you open up your own cream shop, I'll provide you with a new flat in the upper ring. The cream shop is yours to do whatever you want."

Irontail felt that his ultimate dream had come true. After being trained by his mentor, cream had become his favorite thing to drink; if there wasn't any, he would either take wine or water. But the thought of owning his own cream shop was so exciting that he felt like fainting on the spot out of pure joy.

"Do I...get to name the cream shop?" he asked Bamboo. Bearclaw, who was filling out some customers' orders, looked over at his uncle, confusion in his gaze, before going off again.

"Of course!" the brown tabby purred, nodding.

"How about Senior _Executive _Assistant Manager?" Hornbill pleaded again.

Feeling slightly bad for this cat, Irontail looked down at the cream pot he set down at his paws. He had been working for around some time, and he had gotten used to being an employee in this cream shop. But as for getting his own cream shop...that was something he wanted most of all. So there was only one thing to do at a time like this.

Irontail picked up the pot, padded to Hornbill, and laid it softly at his paws. Hornbill looked quite aggrieved at the thought of losing two employees, but he kept silent. Giving him a repentant nod and giving Bamboo a thankful nod, Irontail padded away to Bearclaw, who was still serving customers.

"Did you hear that, nephew?" he asked his dark brown tabby nephew. "This fellow wants to give us our own cream shop in the upper ring!"

"That's right, young tom," Bamboo purred, joining Irontail. "Your life's going to change for the better!"

Bearclaw looked up at them with a grim face as if they suggested he would jump into lava. Then he continued to walk away towards the front door, setting down the tray of bowls. However, he turned to meow sarcastically:

"Well, forgive me for not _leaping_ for joy. Bad back, you know."

**(Author's Note: This line came from Scar from The Lion King, which I don't own. But I added a bit more to make it a bit different. And again, it's gonna switch POVs right away.)**

Closing the door behind him, Bearclaw stepped out to lean against the front of the teashop. He knew his uncle was happy for being able to get a new cream shop, but he wasn't. He didn't want to make cream for the rest of his life; he wanted his honor and his father's approval back. But now, he wouldn't have a chance.

A leaflet fluttered out of the sky, making Bearclaw leap up and snatch it out of the air to read it. Realizing the import of it, he realized that it was the Avatar Cat's dragon. That meant that the Avatar Cat had to be somewhere in the city if his dragon went missing.

Bearclaw scanned the sky for the source of the paper. When that didn't work, he climbed to the roof of the shop just as another scattering of them settled to the street. Looking at the leaflet once more, he felt his face harden with determination. Now was another chance to try and capture the Avatar Cat, and this time, Frostfire would not stop him...

_Finally...he's here in the city! This will be easier than before._

**...**

Running around the city and throwing leaflets everywhere made Goldwing's paws tired. Despite wanting to find Archie and working hard, he knew there was no harm in resting for a bit. Beside him, Tobias had fluttered down from the sky out of exhaustion, fluttering up once more to settle on his back. So the two remainders of AirClan went back to their house to see if the others had gotten any news.

When they got back, Silverheart and Ashfeather were playing a card game like Twolegs used to play. Nightpaw, meanwhile, was just tossing a ball off the wall and back again. The way her fur was ruffled told him that Silverheart might have scolded her apprentice for making a racket. But in the end, she must have given up and let her do it. It must have been due to all the extra warrior training Nightpaw had from her mentor.

"Tobias and I just finished dropping all the leaflets," Goldwing panted, approaching the siblings. "Did anyone give you news about Archie?"

"It's only sunhigh, Goldwing. Just wait a little more," Silverheart told him, flicking her tail at him as she studied her cards.

Goldwing sighed with defeat, resting his chin and forepaw on the table in dejection. But as soon as he did, there was a tapping on the front door.

He jumped up and cheered, "Wow, Silverheart! You were right! Patience DOES work!" Then he ran over to the door and opened it up, but when he did, his hopes died away like a bad song.

It was Joo Dee. And this time, it was the _real_ Joo Dee, not the gray tabby that escorted them out of the party nights ago. But right now, he wondered what this strange she-cat was doing here and where she had been.

"Hello, Goldwing and Silverheart and Ashfeather and Nightpaw," Joo Dee greeted them in the usual freaky grin and careful speech.

Silverheart and Ashfeather left their game to greet the brown tabby she-cat. Hearing the scooting noises, Nightpaw abandoned her ball game and joined her friends.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ashfeather asked Joo Dee in shock. "Did the Tai Kwan take you prisoner?"

Joo Dee replied flippantly, "Prisoner? Oh no, of course not! The Tai Kwan cats are the guardians of our culture and heritage."

Nightpaw shoved her way up front and added, "But you vanished at the leader's party."

"Oh, I just took a short vacation to Lake Mossrock; it's located just outside the city," Joo Dee meowed. "It was relaxing."

While Ashfeather frowned at her with suspicion, Silverheart piped up, "But they replaced you with a gray tabby she-cat, saying that SHE was Joo Dee. What really _did_ happen?"

The brown tabby shook her head. "_I'm _Joo Dee."

Goldwing held up his tail to tell them to stop asking questions. They fell silent, and he turned back to Joo Dee. "May we help you?"

"Dropping leaflets and putting up posters isn't allowed in the city," Joo Dee began, holding up an Archie leaflet from the door. "Not without proper clearance, anyways."

Ashfeather growled in irritation. "Well, what do you expect us to do? Sit here and do nothing? We can't just wait for permission to do anything!"

Privately, Goldwing agreed with him. The longer they were staying here, the more they had been spied upon like prey. It seemed that the Tai Kwan had told Joo Dee about what happened, and it looked like she was one of them. He could feel anger burn the tips of his paws as he glared at the brown tabby she-cat through angry dark gray eyes.

Despite this, Joo Dee smiled cheerfully as she replied, "You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to continue putting up posters."

"_We don't give a DAMN about your stupid rules, and we won't wait for permission!"_ Goldwing roared at her, backing Joo Dee out the door. As she stared at him in alarm, he unsheathed his claws and roared some more, "_We're gonna find Archie on our own, so do us a favor and stay the hell out of our way!"_

After that, he slammed the door shut in her face.

"I'm not usually one to think this, but I think that's gonna bite us in the tail," Ashfeather warned him. Usually, the dark gray tabby tom wasn't one to think about karma.

Goldwing glared at him before glaring back at the door. "I don't give a fox's shit of what she says. We're gonna do whatever we can to get Archie back from now on."

"Yeah! Let's break some rules!" Nightpaw cheered.

At this, she turned around and blasted a hole through the wall with EarthBending. The three older warriors gave her a confused glance before they padded out of the house, the small black she-cat behind them. But little did they realize that they were being watched.

As the four Clan cats left their house, a pair of Tai Kwan agents was watching from atop a roof across the street. They laid on their stomachs, peering down over the peak of the tile rooftop, before they slipped away.

**...**

After the Tai Kwan warriors told Longfang of what happened, he was angry. That golden Avatar Cat and his little friends were sure to ruin all of BoulderClan's peace for sure. He felt like going over to their house and demand that they leave the city instantly, but he couldn't leave the hiding place.

In front of him, Joo Dee was cringing in fear. Right now, they were at the fire-lit interior of Longfang's private audience chamber. The red-brown tom sat on a small chair, while Joo Dee crouched before him, shaking with shame and fear.

When Longfang spoke, however, he was calm. "Joo Dee, I am very disappointed in your lack of success with the Avatar Cat and his friends. I hoped you would handle this situation and keep it under your control."

"Please forgive me, Longfang. But they don't trust me anymore," Joo Dee squeaked, trembling all over with fear. "I-I don't want to anymore...I-I can't keep going on like this."

At this, she lowered herself to the ground and shivered. She was clearly expecting for her deputy to punish her...or worse.

But Longfang didn't. Instead, he meowed softly, "Joo Dee, our beloved leader has invited you to Lake Mossrock."

"I am honored to accept his invitation," Joo Dee mewed calmly now. She had looked up at him, and her pupils had widened until they almost covered her amber eyes.

"Good. Now go await your further orders," Longfang purred.

Joo Dee nodded and rose to her paws, slinking out of the room between two Tai Kwan cats. When she was gone, those two cats looked back at their deputy, who got up and paced around near the fireplace.

He took a scroll from a stand and looked back to stare into the green flames in the heath. Then he growled through a mouthful of scroll, "If the Avatar Cat keeps searching for his dragon, it could upset the delicate balance we have worked so hard to achieve in this city. It could even cost us control over Cavestar."

"Should we take care of him, sir?" one of his warriors asked.

"No," Longfang meowed, dropping the scroll at his own paws. "It would be too risky to confront him out in the open and directly, where his friends would fight back against us. We will have to handle this...quietly."

**...**

Irontail was packing several items into a bag when he saw Bearclaw stalk inside the room of the flat they lived at. The dark brown tabby tom was carrying something in his jaws; it looked like a piece of paper. But he thought it was just another advertisement for the cream shop that Stone worked at.

"Hello," Irontail purred to Bearclaw, who didn't return the greeting. "I was just thinking of a new name for our new cream shop. How about...the Emerald Griffin? It's dramatic, poetic, and it has a nice ring to it!"

Bearclaw didn't say anything about that. Instead, he dropped the paper to the ground, the Avatar Cat's dragon on the front. While Irontail read on, his nephew meowed, "The Avatar Cat is here in this hellhole. And he's lost his dragon."

At that, he stalked away, leaped onto the windowsill, and looked out the window.

However, Irontail did not show the same feeling Bearclaw was feeling. Now was the time to start off a new life, not follow the Avatar Cat in a hopeless chase. But Bearclaw did not seem to think that; hopes of pleasing Darkstar must have taken a hold on his brain.

"Bearclaw, we have been given a chance to start anew here," Irontail chided him. "I must ask you to not go looking for him. If you stir up trouble, we could lose _all_ the good things happening for us both."

"Good things happening to YOU," Bearclaw hissed irritably, whipping around to glare at his uncle. "Did you ever think that I want much more in life than a nice flat and a job serving cream every day?"

Irontail meowed earnestly, "There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and fortune. I advise you to think about what it is you want for your life, and why. Remember..." he added, recalling what his mentor told him, "...we are Clan cats; we are allowed to think for ourselves. And you are the only one to think of what your destiny should be."

Bearclaw looked back out the window. "That's exactly it. I want to find my destiny."

"What it means is entirely up to you," Irontail advised him.

As Bearclaw leapt down the window and stalked off, Irontail thought of another name for his cream shop: "How about...the Cream Crop? ...no, that's stupid!" he muttered, shaking his head.

**...**

Ashfeather was busy brushing paste onto a stone wall and plastering up an Archie Poster. In a narrow alley, Silverheart and Goldwing were pasting more of them up. Nightpaw was just leaning against the wall with her tail wrapped around her front paws near Ashfeather. And Tobias was perching above their heads in a towering oak tree.

When the four cats regrouped, Ashfeather meowed, "How about we split to cover more ground around here? Nightpaw, I think it'd be best if you come with me."

"Why?" Nightpaw growled, sounding annoyed. Silverheart turned to see her spitting at the dark gray tabby tomcat. "You don't think I can put up posters on my own?" Grabbing his brush in her jaws, she slashed glue across the wall and slammed a poster against it...upside down.

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air after that. Then Nightpaw mewed dolefully, "...it's upside down, isn't it?" After a few nods and agreements from the others, she huffed, "Fine, I'll go with you, Ashfeather."

She gave Ashfeather the brush back, and all four cats (and Tobias) split up throughout the city. Silverheart hoped their plan would work and no Tai Kwan cat would arrest them. Despite not wanting to break any rules, she saw that the rules the Tai Kwan had made up were even worse than the sexist rules of the Northern WaterClan. But Silverheart was sure that they would hurry in doing what they had come here to do.

When she arrived at the town square, which was empty, Silverheart went to work. She padded to a stone podium near a flowing water stream, reared up onto her haunches, and pasted one of her posters on it. But while she was pasting another poster on there, she heard a shockingly familiar voice meow.

"Silverpaw? Can I help you?"

Silverheart turned around with a gasp as she recognized the cat prowling out from an alley. This cat was not whom she was expecting to see again.

It was Flash, a brown-&-ginger striped rogue and the leader of the Freedom Fighters, cats united to drive out FireClan. Right now, he was smiling confidently at her, the smile that made her feel attracted him once. And what was different from him was the claw marks she gave his face and a missing right ear.

But instead of joy, pure outrage replaced her shocked blush. This was the same cat who had tried to kill off an entire village of innocent FireClan colonists. He had even tried to have Ashfeather killed for finding out about this plan. Silverheart could not believe this traitorous cat had found her all alone without her friends beside her. And she could not believe that no one had arrested him when he was strolling towards her.

_That bastard! What's he doing here?_

Letting out a screech of fury, she lashed her tail and Bended up a pair of towering waves from the stream behind her, sending them crashing towards him. Flash was stepping back, shock filling his amber gaze.

"Silverpaw! Stop! I've changed!" he yowled loudly.

"Tell it to some other she-cat, Flash! Don't give me that bullshit!" Silverheart snapped, not bothering to correct him about her name.

Flash became overwhelmed by the great torrent, and was swept back into the alley. Skidding into view, Silverheart raised a puddle up into a spinning sphere, ready for yet another attack. Freezing the globe of water, she unleashed a barrage of ice spikes down the alley toward him. Whirling off-balance, Flash nonetheless managed to cut them out of the out of the air with a swipe of his claws.

After having one claw torn out, however, Flash managed to stay still, blood dripping from where the claw was once at. "I don't want to fight you! I want to help you and Goldpaw and Ashpaw!"

He reached behind him to get his hook swords and dropped them to the ground; it looked like he was giving up. Silverheart, who didn't quite believe him, stalked much closer to him, her lips peeled back into a snarl. But after seeing him drop the weapons to the ground, she was now not sure of what to make of this. _Maybe he IS giving up._

But suddenly, Flash craned his neck to behind him to get something, mistrust filling Silverheart's mind faster. He was going to attack after all! So she pinned him to the wall by the scruff with a flurry of ice blades. The scents of Ashfeather, Nightpaw, and Goldwing told her that they were rushing up behind her.

"Silverheart! What's wrong here?" Ashfeather asked her, giving her concerned licks on the ear.

"Flash is back," Silverheart snarled, glaring back at Flash.

The brown-&-ginger tom didn't reply, though; instead, he was gazing at her with determination and strange calmness.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"Goldwing, get away from him!" Silverheart spat as Goldwing padded near Flash. She was just clearly seeing an enemy. "We can't trust anything he says! Not even for a mouse tail!"

"Hold on," Ashfeather piped up, padding around his sister and facing her. "We don't even know why he's here in the first place."

Goldwing tiled his head towards Ashfeather in confusion. Back when they were apprentices, the dark gray tabby tom had been the most hostile to Flash while Silverheart was the friendliest. She even had a mild crush on him, Goldwing remembered with a revolted feeling. Now it was the opposite: Silverheart was the most hostile, while Ashfeather...hadn't decided yet.

However, Silverheart growled, "I don't care why he's here! I know he's up to no good!"

"I came to help you find Archie!"

All four Clan cats turned to see Flash looking at them with desperation. The Freedom Fighter leader had kicked a rolled-up leaflet at them, which unraveled once it stopped at their paws. It was an Archie pamphlet, which made them confused. Why was Flash looking for Archie? And was he telling the truth?

But there was no other choice.

Goldwing waved his tail at Silverheart and warned her, "Silverheart, Flash might know where he is. Let's just let him explain."

"It's true," Flash agreed, his amber eyes pleading earnestly. "I swear to your warrior ancestors that I've changed. I was just a troubled cat, and I just let my anger get the better of me. But look now! I don't have my pack with me anymore! I put the past behind me."

"Liar!" Silverheart spat bitterly.

All of a sudden, Nightpaw pushed past her angry mentor and padded to the pinned Flash. The small black she-cat reared onto her hind legs and planted both forepaws to either side, her pale green eyes closing. Finally, after a moment of silence, she opened her eyes, got down to the ground, and turned to face the others.

She took a deep breath and meowed, "He's telling the truth."

"What?" Ashfeather asked, his eyes wide with shock. "How the hell can you tell that?"

"I can feel his heart beat and his breathing. When a cat lies, there's a physical reaction. So on the whole, he's not lying," Nightpaw explained.

At this, she turned to Silverheart with a resolute look in her blind gaze. Goldwing and Ashfeather did the same, while she just gave them defiant glares.

"Please, Silverheart," Goldwing mewed earnestly. "We don't have any more leads on our paws right now. So if Flash says he knows where Archie is, we have to check it out."

Silverheart looked like she wanted to argue some more, but she was outnumbered in this quarrel. The silver she-cat glared at each cat looking at her before sighing and sagging her shoulders in resignation.

"Fine," she grumbled, her dark blue eyes thinning. But she stalked over to Flash and prodded a foreclaw at Flash's chest, snarling, "But we're not letting you out of our sight! One slip and we'll feed your insides to the foxes!"

Then she prodded her foreclaw at Flash's chest one more time before stalking away. Goldwing looked after her, feeling worried for his crush and how she was behaving. She seemed to have taken Flash's reappearance much harder and harsher than the others. It was as if betrayal could never be forgiven, though she and Ashfeather forgave Goldwing for hiding a map moons ago.

Goldwing hoped Silverheart would turn around and see that Flash could be telling the truth. Only then would she be calmer around him.

**...**

All five cats (and Tobias) had arrived at a warehouse that looked more like a stable in a barn than a real warehouse. Along the way, Flash had learned about the warriors names of the apprentices he once met, and he was amazed at seeing a new apprentice among them. The warehouse was dimly lit, and it was empty save for a few sacks and a pile of canvas and rope.

Flash looked around, mewing, "Well, this is the place."

"But there's no one here," Goldwing sighed with disappointment.

Then Silverheart whirled around at Flash, spitting angrily, "This better not be a trap!"

"It's not," Flash retorted calmly. "I already told you, I work nearby. I heard two cats talking about a big white animal they had. It had to have been Archie."

"He _was _here!" Nightpaw called. She was sniffing at a piece of white fur on the ground.

Goldwing rushed over to the fur and stroked it with his paws sadly. He cursed, "Shit. We were too late. We just missed him."

The other three cats joined up with Goldwing and Nightpaw. Ashfeather and Silverheart looked concerned while Flash looked like he was happy to help someone.

"They took that big white critter out the day before." Goldwing looked up, shocked, to see an old creamy tabby tom speaking to him. He was carrying a mop in his jaws as he passed behind the Avatar Cat. "They shipped him off to some island. About time, too! I've been cleaning up lots of fur and...well, leavings all day!"

At that, he slunk off to clean up the place.

"Wait!" Goldwing ran over to the janitor, frantically wanting to hear of where Archie went off to. "What island is it? Who's got Archie?"

The janitor sighed wearily. "Foreman said some rich royal bloke who came from Dolphin Island bought that thing. Think that might be for a zoo. Though it did have some good meat on it."

Goldwing was relieved that he now knew where Archie was, but he was now worried too. He had no idea Archie could get eaten or sold to a zoo; he hadn't thought of that before. But what mattered now was to get over to Dolphin Island and get his dragon back from whoever bought him.

So he turned to his friends and meowed, "We need to get to Dolphin Island right away! Where's Dolphin Island?" he asked, turning to Ashfeather.

The WaterClan warrior was reading a map laid down as he sighed, "Far. REALLY far away." As Goldwing padded over to see the map, Ashfeather pointed a forepaw to the south of the map, adding, "There it is. It's near home, and I think it's near where we found you, Goldwing."

The other three cats padded forward and crowded around the map. Silverheart looked worried while Nightpaw looked indignant, as if the others weren't telling her what they saw. Flash looked rather thoughtful as he gazed down at the map.

"It'll take us a moon or more just to get to the southern tip of EarthClan, Goldwing," Silverheart spoke up. "And then we'll gave to get a ferry to get to Dolphin Island."

"I don't care," Goldwing retorted, standing up; nothing would keep him from getting Archie. "We have to find Archie. And we have to try or die trying."

The janitor from behind muttered, "Must be nice to visit there. I haven't had a vacation in moons. And all they ever do is-"

"Isn't there more hair you can sweep up?" Silverheart growled at him crossly.

The janitor shrugged before moving away. "Mosey on, I get ya. No need for Mr. Scruffy."

Silverheart glared after him before she turned to Goldwing, her face softening. "You're right. For now, our main concern is to find Archie. We'll come back to BoulderClan when we get him."

"All right. That's settled then," Ashfeather declared, standing to his paws. "Let's get moving."

"I'll come along too," Flash added, padding after the two toms.

But Silverheart darted forward to plant herself between him and her friends. "No! We don't need your help!"

Flash glared down at her. "This isn't fair, Silverheart! Why the hell don't you trust me?" Not waiting for an answer, he bounded around her and padded after Goldwing and Ashfeather.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Silverheart retorted sarcastically, turning away and raising her head in a huff.

Nightpaw padded up to beside her mentor, purring teasingly, "Was he your mate or something?"

Silverheart stared at her apprentice in shock, blushing hard. "What? No!" she exclaimed as she padded away.

"I can tell you're lyyyyying," Nightpaw called in a singsong voice after her. She got up from where she sat and ran off after her.

**...**

"If we can hurry, we can take the train out of the wall," Ashfeather explained as all five cats padded down the street. "But then we'll have to walk the rest of the way there."

"Don't worry. On the way back, we'll fly!" Goldwing purred, feeling cheerful now.

Nightpaw cheered with exaggerated relief, "We get to leave BoulderClan? Finally! Worst! City! Ever!"

But when she padded up to join the warriors, Goldwing heard a voice call, "Flash! It's you!"

The golden Avatar Cat turned to see two cats running towards Flash in a hurry. One cat that was running right for him was a small tortoiseshell she-cat covered in dried mud, while the other who follower her slowly was a pale tabby tom. Those two cats were Hornet and Spearhead, two cats from the Freedom Fighters; however, he couldn't see Tiny, The Dude, and Growler.

Silverheart watched the cats run toward them, her eyes wide with surprise, while Flash walked on coolly. Then she rounded on Flash irately, spitting harshly, "You said your comrades weren't with you anymore! You lied to us!"

"No I didn't!" Flash retorted, a bewildered look on his face.

But he stopped as Hornet threw herself at him, covering him in happy licks and a hug. Spearhead arrived more slowly and gave his former leader a respectful nod. The look on Hornet's red paint-covered face was one of relief and joy.

"We were worried about you, Comrade Flash!" the dark tortoiseshell she-cat squealed. "How the hell did you get away from the Tai Kwan?"

"The Tai Kwan? You've seen them?" Silverheart asked the two rogues.

But as Hornet nodded, Flash interjected, "No, I don't know what she's talking about!"

However, that sounded very suspicious to Goldwing. Flash looked like he wanted to run away and forget about this entire scene. However, he now had nowhere to go with six cats surrounding him.

"He was arrested by the Tai Kwan around a half-moon ago," Hornet started explaining. "We saw him getting dragged away by the scruff."

"But why would I ever get arrested?" Flash asked in a baffled voice. "I've been living peacefully in this city ever since I got here!"

Nightpaw padded forward and planted herself between Flash and Hornet, her nose sniffing at their pelts as if she was searching for the truth. She felt the ground with her paw grazing against the street before looking up at the others.

"I don't get it," the small black cat mewed. "I mean, this doesn't make any sense. These two are _both _telling the truth."

Silverheart looked baffled. "But that's impossible."

Ashfeather, however, looked like he just had an idea. "No, I don't think so. Nightpaw can't tell which cat is lying; that's because they think they're telling the truth. And I know why. Flash got brain-washed!" he yelled, flicking his tail at the older rogue.

Flash's amber eyes widened with shock. "N-No! It can't be! That's crazy! Mouse-brained! That's...hey! Get away from me!"

For the six other cats surrounded him and began to close in on him. Flash stared around him, his claws unsheathed and his brown-&-ginger fur bristling with fright. This felt wrong to corner a cat like this, Goldwing was thinking, but there was no other choice if they needed answers. At the flick of Ashfeather's tail, all six cats pounced.

**...**

The Red Demon had been watching a ginger tabby-&-white Tai Kwan cat stride down the street past the entrance to an alley. He had been watching, the eyes behind his red demon-like mask narrowing with resolve. In time, he leaped down from the roof, dropped down to the ground, and rushed past the Tai Kwan cat, taking care to nudge him hard on the shoulder.

"Outta my way, you scrawny rat!" he snarled.

He had succeeded in knocking him to the ground and repeated the process. The agent readied his stone-paw attack, but the Red Demon turned and disappeared down a side street. Rising to his paws, the agent rushed after the strange being in pursuit.

Rounding around the corner, he saw the Red Demon waiting in the darkness and launched his stone paws at him, one after the other. But the Red Demon was ready, for he placed his mask on the head of a butchered calf and leapt up onto the roof. The second stone paw hit the calf's head, which fell down and made the mask fly upward.

"Huh?" the ginger tabby asked as the calf fell down.

The Red Demon took the chance. He leaped up into the air, grabbed the mask while putting it on, and landed on the ginger tabby-&-white tom. The tomcat writhed under his large paws and tried to scratch him, but the Red Demon held his paws down to render him helpless. With him down, the Red Demon planted a forepaw on the cat's nape and unsheathed his claws, pressing them down on the skin underneath the fur.

"I'm sure you don't want to end up like him," the Red Demon snarled menacingly, flicking his tail at the calf. "No do as I say, and then you'll leave."

**...**

Tobias was sitting out on a nearby rock, keeping an eye out on any rats that came around. It was nighttime, and Goldwing and the other cats dragged Flash back to the flat he was staying at. But it wasn't easy for them to get Flash; in spite of becoming brain-washed, he was still a formidable fighter. Finally, after a large head blow from Ashfeather, the Freedom Fighter leader had fallen to the ground out cold.

Finally, Flash's eyes began to open resignedly as he stared at the other cats looking at him with suspicion. When he woke up, he looked around at them with confusion. He was sitting on a stool and had not been tied up after they knocked him out.

"The Tai Kwan must have sent Flash over to lie to us from our mission," Silverheart meowed to the other cats. "And you know what? I bet that janitor was part of their plot too!"

Ashfeather rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Silverheart. You're sounding paranoid. It's like listening to an anxious owl!"

Goldwing warded off another argument with a flick of his tail. Then he remembered something: the janitor telling them that Archie was away at Dolphin Island. Now he realized that it could not be true; it must have been a plot to get AvatarClan out of the city. Not only that, but that would also prevent them from telling the leader about the eclipse.

Turning to Silverheart, he told her, "I even bet ten mouse-tails they have Archie here in the city. Maybe they took him to the same place they took Flash to." Turning to said cat, he asked him, "Flash, where did they take you?"

"Nowhere," Flash mumbled in a baffled tone, hanging his head. "I-I don't know what you're all meowing about."

Goldwing tilted his head to one side. "We have to find a way to get his memory back."

"How about Silverheart lick him on the cheek? That should bring something back," Ashfeather purred, amusement in his mew as he teased his sister.

"How about YOU lick him on the cheek?" Silverheart retorted, a growl in her voice.

Ashfeather shrugged. "Hey, it's an idea."

"A bad one," Goldwing growled, looking away. He felt very irritated that another tom would go after Silverheart, who he loved very much. The Avatar Cat finally decided to do nothing about it, though he wanted to cuff Ashfeather on the ears for suggesting the idea.

"Hold it. I got an idea." Ashfeather nudged a familiar wheat stalk towards Flash and poked it into his mouth in his trademark fashion. His pale blue eyes narrowed with regard as he prowled around him, sniffing at his pelt.

Finally, Flash spat the wheat stalk out of his mouth and muttered, "It's not working."

"Try thinking of something from your past to trigger your memories," Nightpaw suggested.

"Think about FireClan," Hornet joined in. "Think of what those bastards did to you."

Silverheart added, "Close your eyes, Flash. Picture this in your mind."

Flash did so and took a deep breath, shaking as he did so. Goldwing saw his eyes snap wide open and…he felt himself being sucked into his memories like he was sucked into a whirlpool. While in his memories, he saw horrifying scenes before him.

Beside him, in a burning forest, he could see a small ginger kit cowering in terror while a she-cat's scream pierced the air. Flames burst out from a fallen log beside him and seared across his pelt, staining the orange fur to brown stripes. Growling at him was a large Komodo dragon with a familiar mottled golden brown tabby cat on top of its back. The kit looked on, tears running down his face as embers continued darkening the new stripes on his pelt.

Hearing a gasp, Goldwing was brought back out from the memories and back to the flat. Flash was now panting, his amber eyes widened with horror.

"No..." he croaked, slumping forward. "Too painful..."

"Maybe this will help you," Silverheart replied. Goldwing hoped that didn't mean she would lick him on the cheek.

But instead, she stepped behind him, drawing out a portion of her Bending water. She moved the water and her paws to the sides of his head. As the glow of her healing powers took effect, Flash looked down at the shadow cast on the floor before him by the light of her energies. And once more, Goldwing found himself in another dimension.

When Flash's eyes followed the floorboards, gaps appeared, revealing blue waters. The far side of the room was replaced by the distant shore of a great lake, and Goldwing could see Longfang standing in the distance upon its surface. The red-brown deputy observed Flash austerely, and the brown-&-ginger tom plunged down into the dark depths of the lake. He emerged inside a vast and dark underground chamber.

Goldwing recognized this scene: he recalled seeing this vision at the EarthClan leader's party, a cat being subjected to the hypnotic light of an orbiting lantern by a pair of Dai Li agents. Flash must have been that cat being hypnotized; he knew he recognized the voice. As Flash shut his eyes against the light, both cats were brought back to the flat where they were at.

Finally, Flash opened his eyes and spoke hesitantly, "They took me to what looked like some sort of headquarters. Under a lake of some sort."

"Hold on!" Ashfeather meowed, his pale blue eyes flashing. "You remember what Joo Dee told us earlier today? She said she went to a vacation to Lake Mossrock!"

"Lake Mossrock!" Flash meowed, his voice clearer than before. "That's the place! They took me to Lake Mossrock!"

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

That night, all seven cats (and Tobias) all went out to beyond the wall and out towards Lake Mossrock. Goldwing could feel tension among the cats as they trudged silently out of the walls and out into the countryside. At first, several warriors tried to stop them, but Ashfeather tricked them by saying they were just going to hunt and would not be back for some time. The warriors had to give in and let them pass.

They did not stop to hunt, of course. Instead, they just kept going onwards to Lake Mossrock in search of the secret base, not even stopping to rest. Nightpaw's feet were bleeding a bit, but that didn't stop the black-furred apprentice from walking. She didn't even stop to lick the blood from her paw pads, which were cracked and bleeding.

Finally, the seven cats arrived at a vast lake surrounded by rugged hills. They lined up side by side at the misty shores, frogs slipping past them and into the water below. Even elephant seals made their home here, where two males were fighting before the bigger bull chased the bloody younger male away from his harem.

"So where's this secret base?" Ashfeather asked Flash, tearing his gaze away from the seal fight.

"Um...last time I remember, it was under the lake," Flash answered, flicking his tail tip from left to right.

Suddenly, Nightpaw pointed her muzzle towards the lake and declared, "There's a tunnel near the shore. I can see with EarthBending," she added to the Freedom Fighters, who gave her very confused looks.

She sauntered off in that direction, whistling. Reaching the water's edge, Nightpaw began using an EarthBending move by stomping her forepaws to the ground, and a stone pathway rose to the surface. The EarthClan apprentice prowled along it to a stone disc, which she pushed aside with Bending. At that, the six other cats followed her there, Silverheart and Ashfeather reaching there first due to swimming. They shook the water out of their pelts and waited until the four other cats arrived.

Everyone peered down into the dark shaft, and Tobias flew away, cawing nervously. From the depths of the shaft, they could see a narrow ladder lead up to the tiny circle of light where the heroes stood far above. Giving each other nods and with the resolve to find Archie, everyone leapt down into the hole.

The underground base beneath the lake looked similar to the one in the vision, a crosshatch of large passages lit by greenish firestone lanterns. Two Tai Kwan cats were starting to pad in their direction, and they quickly stepped to the side to hide. When they hid behind a pillar, however, they saw them prowling away into a side tunnel.

The assembled group cautiously descended a dark stairway to the main chamber. Along the way down, Flash was murmuring, "Wait. It's all coming back to me now!"

The tall brown-&-ginger tomcat edged quietly to a partly opened door and moved on, followed by the others. As they peered inside in turn, they saw rows of young she-cats of different fur colors in the same green cloak that Joo Dee would wear. They were standing hypnotically before a Tai Kwan agent; not only that, but Longfang was also there.

"'Hello. I am Joo Dee. Welcome to BoulderClan,'" Longfang was meowing in the deep voice he had. It sounded like he was hypnotizing these she-cats too well.

All the she-cats repeated in perfect unison: "Hello. I am Joo Dee. Welcome to BoulderClan."

Longfang went on, "'It is a great honor to have these walls to create order and progress."

"It is a great honor to have these walls to create order and progress," the she-cats repeated again, their voices sounding perfectly hypnotized.

Goldwing was shocked and horrified at what Longfang was doing. This felt very wrong, so very un-catlike and callous, he thought with creeping horror. Beside him, the other cats seemed to be thinking the very same thing.

"I think there could be a cell where they're keeping Archie," Flash explained, leading them once again. He stopped at a sealed stone door and meowed, "I think he's in here."

At this, he shifted the door to one side. Goldwing felt excitement run through his veins as he could imagine Archie waiting for them, whiskers waving and him roaring happily.

_We're coming, buddy!_

**...**

Archie laid in the poor pile of stones that made up his nest, wondering when he would see his masters again. But just as he thought of that, the sealed door at the entrance of his cell opened up, the light pouring in. It was the first light he had seen in days; he had seen nothing but darkness and the glowing eyes of cats if they entered his cell. The Asian Lung dragon looked up in hope, wanting to see his family so badly.

But when the creature crept into the room, Archie's hopes faded away into despair and anxiety. The newcomer was black all over save for its face; it had a scary red face like a demon. It crept very silently at him, a dagger clenched in one paw as it hobbled on three legs.

"Expecting someone else?" it rasped; the voice sounded very familiar.

Despite this, however, Archie shied away from the creature. Cat or not, any animal now was a threat to him.

**...**

Unknowingly to the heroes, dark shaped were watching them with narrowed eyes. Then they walked like spiders out of the room, undetected.

Far below_, _the heroes cautiously entered the room; it was a massive shadowy chamber. However, Goldwing felt disappointed, for Archie wasn't in the room. He felt like blaming Flash just like Silverheart did, but he pushed that away. Flash had been telling the truth, and he had no idea that Archie would not be in the room.

But suddenly, the stone door abruptly slid shut behind them. They spun around in surprise, as the room was plunged into darkness, making them unable to see anything and their scents stronger. Then green lanterns began flaring to life, illuminating the vast cave. Only then did they notice the Tai Kwan high above them, suspended from chains or clinging to the ceiling itself. Ahead, Longfang was waiting with several more Tai Kwan cats.

"Now that's something new," Ashfeather remarked as everyone stood up.

Longfang prowled forward, his tail tip twitching and his unsheathed claws making small thuds when they clicked on the ground. His yellow-green eyes were narrowed with calm anger, and his black mane bristling.

"You cats have caused too much trouble and have made yourselves enemies of the state," the deputy growled. To his warriors, he commanded, "Take them all into custody."

The Tai Kwan dropped down to the floor, surrounding the heroes. Two agents launched a stone paw attack, but Nightpaw disintegrated them in mid-flight with a mighty paw slap. As the dust cleared, she launched them across the room with a pair of rock pillars. Behind her, Flash turned and rushed another pair, cutting their stone paw projectiles from the air. Sliding along the ground past the first, he tripped the second with his hook sword and back paws, slamming him hard to the ground.

Longfang watched calmly as Goldwing faced off against two more of his Tai Kwan cats with air and EarthBending. Silverheart and Ashfeather managed to destroy two more paw projectiles with their own paws before being seized by two more. But before they could be drug to the waiting Tai Kwan, Nightpaw saved them by creating a stone wall between them. They sent a tsunami of stone towards the black she-cat, but she rose high into the cave on a pillar of rock, forcing them to pursue her the same way.

Two more Tai Kwan cats raced up the walls to either side of her, to strike out at Nightpaw with level columns of stone. High in the cavern, she swatted aside the first two agents with her claws, one claw tearing out the eye of one of them, then she leapt up to avoid the two pillars as they crashed together beneath her. Landing atop them, she Bended up a pair of stone blocks from the columns, using them to drive away both of the remaining agents at once.

A paw of stone grabbed her neck and hauled her through the air toward a waiting Tai Kwan cat. But Flash intervened at the last moment; leaping past, he grabbed the apprentice by the scruff, pulling her to safety as the agent kicked a stone foot attack after them. Spearhead covered them as they landed, intercepting the missile with one of his arrows. Joined by two of his comrades, the Tai Kwan reacted with three paw attacks at Spearhead, but Flash cut them from the air with a whirlwind of slashes with his claws.

Meanwhile Longfang appeared to have seen enough. He fled from the room, sealing a stone door behind him.

Back at the battle, Goldwing landed and blew two warriors aside with a burst of air. He looked up in time to see the EarthClan deputy fleeing from the battle, giving them a cold glare over his shoulder. He raised his head to yowl, "Longfang's escaping!"

The golden warrior and Flash broke free from the melee to pursue him. Goldwing blasted open the stone door with EarthBending, and the two toms raced down the hallway after the minister. They followed him as he turned into yet another chamber, a large room filled with pipe openings.

But as they entered, the door sealed shut tightly behind them. When they looked back, Longfang dropped down from the ceiling behind them. His lips were twisted into a snarl as he growled, "You stay right there, Avatar Cat. You and your mouse-hearted comrades have caused me too much problems. This is your final chance. If you wish to see your dragon, stand down."

"You DO have my dragon!" Goldwing spat. Outrage hardening his mew, he roared, "Tell me where he is, you bastard!"

"First, you must agree to leave the city right now," Longfang meowed. "Then I shall waive off all charges pressed against you and your friends. And I shall let you leave here alive with your lost pet."

"You don't have the right to bargain," Flash snarled, his claws scarping the stone floor.

Longfang sneered haughtily. "Am I not?"

Goldwing wielded his staff and growled, "No, you're not!"

But Longfang didn't reply. Instead, the red-brown tom turned to Flash and meowed to him in the same hypnotic tone, "Flash, our beloved leader has invited you to Lake Mossrock."

Suddenly, Flash's amber eyes began to dilate until they were narrow slits. Then he replied in the same hypnotized tone the she-cats were saying, "I am honored to accept his invitation."

Then the Freedom Fighter leader pounced at Goldwing and makes a brutal double slash at his neck, which he nimbly dodged by jumping to the side. Leaping away from him, Goldwing leapt backward in dismay as Flash charged at him, snarling with anger.

_Great StarClan, Flash! Snap out of it!_

But despite this, it seemed that StarClan could not help him out under the lake. For now, he had to fight this battle all by himself.

**...**

The Red Demon crept closer to the dragon much closer than before. He had never actually been this close to the great beast in moons; he couldn't remember when. He crept closer, ignoring it cringing at him coming nearer and nearer every heartbeat.

"You're mine now," he hissed.

But then, a creaking noise was made, making the Red Demon whip around in shock. He could see the door open behind him and a shadow in the light spill inward. He turned and readied both his swords to attack, but there was no need. Irontail had just entered the room, closing the door behind him.

"Uncle?" the Red Demon asked, taking off his mask. He was, in fact, Bearclaw. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"So...you are the Red Demon?" Irontail asked him, his left brow raised in false confusion. "I was wondering who was behind that mask. And besides, I was going to ask you the same thing."

Bearclaw didn't know what to say. But then he meowed, "Don't try and stop me, Uncle. I'm taking this damn dragon with me."

The fat gray tabby tom retorted, "What do you plan to do now that you have found the Avatar Cat's dragon? Keep it locked in our new flat? Should I go make a bowl of cream for him?"

"I have to get it out of here first," Bearclaw told him.

"AND _THEN_ WHAT?" His uncle's voice had risen to an incensed tone. "You never think these things through, do you! This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar Cat in the tundra of the Northern WaterClan! You had him, and then you had nowhere else to go!"

Bearclaw spat back, "I would've figured something out by myself!"

"No!" Irontail roared loudly; Bearclaw had never seen his uncle so angry before. "You would have frozen to death in your sleep if the Avatar Cat and his friends had not found you! That is how Clanmates behave! They behave with honor, gratitude, and a sense of finding their own destiny!"

"I know MY OWN destiny, Uncle!" Bearclaw rasped, turning away in anguish.

Irontail replied forcefully, "Is it your own destiny you want? Or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force onto you?"

Bearclaw couldn't take it anymore; it was like torture pressing down on his body. He turned to the dragon, growling, "Stop it, Uncle. I-I have to do this."

"I'm _begging_ you, Bearclaw!" the former FireClan elder begged him furiously. "It's time you looked deep inside yourself and asked yourself the deep question: Who are YOU? And what do YOU want?"

With a cry of frustration, the big dark brown tabby tom flung his swords to the ground. Not only that, but he also slammed his red mask to the ground. Bearclaw flung his head into the air and let out a yowl of frustrated rage as the dragon watched on, looking scared.

**...**

Goldwing leapt back from yet another one of Flash's attacks. Despite the short fight, they had now sprouted injuries on their bodies; Goldwing had several whiskers clawed clean off while Flash's other ear was torn off. Meanwhile, Longfang had not joined in the fight; instead, he was sitting to the side and smirking like a smug snake.

As Goldwing continued to dodge Flash's attacks, he stopped to plead, "Flash, stop this! It's me! Goldwing! You don't have to do this!"

"I'm afraid he no longer has a choice," Longfang sneered smugly, flicking his tail at Flash.

Standing between them, a panting Flash paused to catch his breath. His eyes remained as inky black pools. With a caterwaul, he changed his attack, showing evidence of tiring as Goldwing once again dodged him; despite a claw swiping his cheek, Goldwing was okay. The Avatar Cat propelled him backwards with a blast of air, but Flash slowed himself with the hooks of his swords, which sparked against the stone floor.

_Great StarClan, give me the right words! _Goldwing prayed. Then he took this opportunity to resume pleading with him. "Flash, I'm your friend! Look deep into your heart!"

Flash's response was quite startling. He stopped attacking and started gasping, looking torn at choosing whichever side.

Longfang snapped, "Don't stand there like a deaf pigeon, Flash! Do your duty to your Clan!"

The brown-&-ginger tomcat nodded and approached Goldwing, his claws unsheathed. Said cat saw blood dripping from his mouth; it looked like he had clenched his teeth together too hard.

"He can't force you to do what he wants!" Goldwing protested. "You're a Freedom Fighter, Flash! A Freedom Fighter fights for freedom until the end!"

At these final words, Flash straightened up in shock. Everything went white around him and Goldwing, and a tableau of images from his past flooded their minds. They could see Hornet wielding a dagger clenched in her teeth; the Dude and Tiny were shown standing together. There were even scenes of him standing against a shy Silverheart. Goldwing tried hard not to bristle at that last scene as they watched on.

There were cheers of the Freedom Fighters as they feasted in the tree fortress. There was Flash standing with Hornet and Spearhead aboard a ferry in the middle of the bay. He was sitting and speaking with two familiar-looking cats on the ferry deck. He was even handing food out to the passengers. And then he was being dragged away by the Tai Kwan and saw the brainwashing beneath the lake.

Faces flashed before their eyes rapidly: Irontail the FireClan elder, Colonel Leopard of the Dark Dragons, Longfang, his own at various ages. Finally, both cats were pulled out of their trance and Goldwing watched with worry as Flash stood motionless; the brown-&-ginger tom had been overcome by the thoughts racing through his brain. Behind him, Longfang's voice cut through his mental fog.

"Do it! Do it NOW!"

With a snarl of rage, and to Goldwing's relief, Flash turned about and hurled one of his swords directly at Longfang. It streaked toward him, imbedding its pommel-spike in the stone wall as Longfang dodged it. The EarthClan deputy at once attacked with his EarthBending, sending an out-thrust of stone rocketing towards Flash. And when Flash stood there stunned, Longfang leapt into the dust cloud, and Goldwing heard claws slicing across flesh and blood spattering the floor.

When the dust cleared up, Flash was lying on the ground motionless, having taken the full brunt of the brutal attack. Briefly stunned by the ferocious attack, the Avatar Cat felt anger rush into his heart. How dare a deputy of a Clan attack his own Clanmate!

Goldwing started to rush at Longfang, spinning around in the Battouga attack and striking his shoulder. He turned around, panting but ready for another attack, but the red-brown tom lifted himself to the entrance of a tunnel on a column of stone.

"Foolish cat!" Longfang spat, his shoulder tattered and bloody from the Battouga. "You've chosen your own end!"

After that, he turned and vanished down the dark passage.

Goldwing rushed over to where Flash lied and was shocked by his condition. Blood was spilling out of his torn throat, and several of his fangs had been broken out of their spot. When he woke up and tried to speak, he could only cough, hacking out blood into a gory pool.

"I-I-I'm sorry..." Flash croaked. "I-I'm sorry...G-Gold...wing."

"Don't be," Goldwing told him gently. "It's not your fault."

Behind Goldwing, the doorway slid open, revealing the rest of his allies. They all rushed forward to surround the stricken Flash, wearing sorrowful and shocked expressions. Hornet's amber eyes were filled with shock and horror while Spearhead's expression was the same, but it was only milder.

Silverheart sat down next to her former crush, drawing forth her Bending water and applying her healing powers to his chest and throat. Goldwing knew that this was no time at all to be jealous; despite appearing to not want to be his mate anymore, the silver WaterClan she-cat seemed to still care for him. But even the healing didn't seem to stop the blood from pouring out.

"This is bad," Silverheart rasped, drawing her now-bloodied white paw away.

Hornet spoke up, her voice cracking, "You four should go find Archie. We'll take care of Flash."

Silverheart shook her head. "We can't leave. Not yet."

"There's no time left. Just go."

The strange new voice made Goldwing and his friends look around in confusion. When their gazes fell on Spearhead, the pale tabby tom went on, perhaps for the first time, "Flash is our leader. We'll take care of him."

Hearing Spearhead speak for the first time ever made them all confused.

"D-Don't worry ab-about me...S-Silverheart," Flash choked kindly, smiling weakly up at her. "I-I'll be fine."

Silverheart smiled weakly back, making Goldwing wish he could give her that look. But when Flash closed his eyes, Silverheart did the same in grief, her other white paw gently brushing against his head. Goldwing padded forward and nudged her gently from him, making her open her eyes and bury her head in his neck fur. He felt his pelt go hot from this, but now was not the time for standing around.

Ashfeather and Nightpaw were already near the exit, waiting for the other two cats to hurry up. Goldwing and Silverheart filed off somberly after them, leaving the Freedom Fighters behind.

"He's lying," Nightpaw whispered to the two cats once they arrived. "I don't think he'll make it."

Behind them, they could see Hornet silently crying over Flash's still body, her shoulders shaking with sorrow. Spearhead watched the heroes disappear down a passageway before readying an arrow to cover the other entrance. Hornet bent her head low and gently began licking Flash's forehead as he prepared for his final stand.

Goldwing felt his heart break at seeing this sad ceremony. It looked like Flash could not be saved physically, but he had finally been saved in spirituality. Blood and sorrow-scent filled his nose, and he felt the same way the Freedom Fighters felt right now. He could not attend a funeral for his Clan, but he had perhaps witnessed his first funeral ever.

_Great StarClan, witness what Flash had done for us today. He might have done wrong in the past, but he had become an honorary cat. Please...accept him into your home. Let him walk with warriors in the sky._

**...**

Goldwing and his friends stepped into a room where six manacles laid empty within the prison. Archie must have been there, but something, or someone, had taken him away.

The Avatar Cat cursed, "Shit. Again. Longfang beat us here. Archie's gone."

"We can catch him if we can catch him," Ashfeather reassured him, laying a tail on his shoulder.

Nightpaw flicked her tail at the toms to join her and Silverheart at an outcropping of rock. When they got there, she stomped her paws to the ground and began to make the pillar go up. Cracks began to form on the plug as they went up, and it shot off to shatter on a nearby cliff face. The four cats emerged and started racing along the narrow shoreline.

Glancing over his shoulder, Goldwing saw nine Tai Kwan cats emerge in pursuit from the hole behind them. Giving a howl of alarm, he had urged the three other cats to run faster than before. Right now, they felt like they were being chased by a rabid dog pack.

Ashfeather ran beside him, puffing, "Can we outrun them?"

"I don't think it matters now," Goldwing puffed back in reply.

Ahead, he could see six more Tai Kwan cats flanking the waiting Longfang. The six warriors Bended up a tall wall of stone beneath Longfang's paws, sealing the strip of land between the side of the cliff and the lake. And there were two more waiting for them, their claws bared and their teeth glinting in the dawn sunlight.

The heroes came to a halt, and behind them, the Tai Kwan cats raised up another wall, boxing them in. They were enclosed and surrounded by twenty Tai Kwan cats, which clung to the edges of the walls and the side of the cliff. In the meantime, Longfang watched from atop the first wall.

Silverheart was in front of an indignant Nightpaw, trying to protect her from the glares the Tai Kwan cats were giving them. Ashfeather was spinning around, hissing and snarling out the worst curses ever at the EarthBenders. Goldwing looked around him in worry, shocked that he and his friends were trapped.

_Great StarClan, help us!_

But at that moment, Tobias swooped down out of the sky and perched himself on Goldwing's lean shoulder. The male red-tailed hawk appeared to be cawing excitedly.

"Tobias? What the hell are you cawing about?" Goldwing asked his pet.

Tobias launched upward into the air, past Longfang, to disappear into the bright midday sun. And then, Goldwing heard it.

Moments later, his heart hammered with shock as a familiar white creature flew in from the dazzling light, dashing down towards them. The four heroes looked upwards with expressions of delight.

"ARCHIE!" Goldwing yowled with joy. His beloved dragon, his animal guide...had returned.

Archie swooped down and smashed through the first wall, roaring and continuing on through the second. The Tai Kwan cats perched on the wall were knocked out by the bursting walls and fell to the ground or into the water. Goldwing and Nightpaw EarthBended the cliff the remaining cats were perched on, flinging them far out into the lake.

Right above them, Archie spun around to land heavily near the surprised Longfang while the remaining Tai Kwan cats fled. Turning from his fleeing warriors, Longfang faced off against the enraged white-furred dragon.

"So you escaped, eh?" the red-brown tom sneered. "No matter. I can take you out myself."

He launched himself at Archie, but the dragon caught him on the shoulder in his teeth. With a mighty toss of his powerful neck, Archie sent him skipping far out across the lake to disappear with a final splash. The sky-bison pauses momentarily before spitting out some cat fur.

The older warriors and Tobias threw themselves onto their shaggy while Nightpaw stroked his nose. Archie responded by giving them a friendly rumble that sounded a bit like purring.

"Archie! You're back! Yeah! Awesome!" Ashfeather cheered, hugging his leg.

His head pressed into his dragon's fur, Goldwing murmured, happy tears flowing down his cheeks, "I missed you, Archie. I really did."

The great beast replied by closing his brown eyes in contentment.

A few minutes later, for the first time in a moon or two, AvatarClan was now riding Archie over Lake Mossrock. Silverheart stared down wistfully at the lake's surface, her blue eyes brimming with tears. Goldwing, knowing she was grieving for Flash, laid a gentle paw on her shoulder, and she turned back to them, wiping a tear away. All four gathered in an embrace along with Tobias as Archie carried them off into the distance.

It didn't matter if their fur was covered in dust and blood. What mattered now was that the family was once again reunited. And it felt so good.

**...**

Bearclaw noticed an unfamiliar circle ring at the surface of the rock path. He leapt through it and pulled his uncle up through after setting his mask down.

"You did the right thing, my nephew," Irontail purred.

Bearclaw didn't say anything. Instead, he looked down at the red mask, regarding its demonic looks.

"Leave it behind," his uncle added calmly.

However, Bearclaw felt reluctant. This was one of the first gifts he had ever gotten ever since he was exiled from FireClan. He did not want to give it up right away; he wanted to keep it a bit longer. But his uncle's words rang in his mind again.

_It's time you looked deep inside yourself and asked yourself the deep question: Who are YOU? And what do YOU want?_

Finally, giving a resigned sigh, Bearclaw turned away from the mask and kicked it away from him. When he turned back, he saw the mask sink slowly beneath the waves and into the abyss, never to be seen again. The Red Demon was no more.

He gave it one more glance before following his uncle back to BoulderClan.

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**Katara: That was a nice episode...but I'm still sad that Jet's dead. I know I won't ever be in love with him ever again, but I still miss him.**

**Aang: Yeah...I'll miss him too. There's nothing wrong with missing someone you once had a crush on.**

**AvatarCat12: Not to mention that he helped you guys out in the end.**

**Katara: (Smiles) I guess that's true. Well anyways, we'll go on with the review part and the preview for The Leader Of EarthClan. (To the readers) Read and review, everyone! Those who do will receive virtual cookies or cupcakes with American colors on them, since Avatar Cat's sister's birthday is tomorrow. Flames will not be allowed, but advice and constructive criticism are.**

**Preview: Now that Archie is with them again, Goldwing and his friends decide to tell the leader of EarthClan about the war. But since Longfang is the BoulderClan deputy, will the leader listen to him or our heroes? Meanwhile, Bearclaw falls ill after his trip at the lake. Will the dreams he has make him into a better cat...or worse?**

**All three: See ya next time! And Happy early Independence Day!**


	19. The Leader Of EarthClan

**AvatarCat12: We're nearly done with this here story, but we've only got three more chapters to go.**

**Katara: We heard you went to see the movie Ted. How was it?**

**AvatarCat12: Freakin' funny! Especially with the Thunder Song!**

**Aang: Well, I can't wait until they show the fourth Ice Age movie. Are you gonna go see it, Avatar Cat?**

**AvatarCat12: Hopefully so, Aang.**

**Disclaimer: I do not and do not wish to own Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats. But if I did, Aang and Katara would get together sooner (*Aang and Katara blush*), and the fight between Firestar and Tigerstar would be longer.**

**Summary: Now that Archie is with them again, Goldwing and his friends decide to tell the leader of EarthClan about the war. But since Longfang is the BoulderClan deputy, will the leader listen to him or our heroes? Meanwhile, Bearclaw falls ill after his trip at the lake. Will the dreams he has make him into a better cat...or worse?**

**Uploading Date: July 10, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_**The Leader Of EarthClan**_

It felt good to have Archie back, Goldwing was thinking as he nuzzled his beloved animal guide. After many days of not seeing him, Archie was finally back in AvatarClan, unharmed and quite healthy-looking. Goldwing had no idea how his dragon was still okay after what happened, even though there was a large nasty scar across his forehead now.

The four cats had stopped at a small island to recover from their battle wounds they got from the Tai Kwan. When they got there, they found some nearby herbs and began patching their wounds with these herbs, cobwebs included. And they had stopped to catch some prey on the island, even though their choice of prey was limited to fish. When all that was done, Goldwing went back to embracing Archie.

"I missed you more than anything," Goldwing purred lovingly to his dragon.

Tobias perched next to Goldwing, gently rubbing the dragon's fur with his head. Archie licked a purring Goldwing off of his face with his huge tongue. Pulling back, the Avatar Cat pulled back to watch Ashfeather walk over to talk with Silverheart and Nightpaw. Mentor and apprentice were crouching low side-by-side, nibbling lightly on a large fish.

"Come on, guys!" Ashfeather began mewing optimistically. "We escaped from the Tai Kwan alive, and we got Archie back! I'm telling you now, I think we should go over to the leader. We're on a roll here!"

Silverheart looked up at her brother reproachfully, licking the fish flavor off her lips. "One good hour after a terrible moon isn't what one would call a roll."

Ashfeather's tail lashed as he protested, "We'll build on it. We need Cavestar's support if we want to attack FireClan when the eclipse happens."

"What the hell makes you think we'll get it?" Nightpaw asked, also looking up. "In case you haven't noticed, things don't always go smoothly for our little pack."

"I know," Ashfeather agreed. "But I got a good feeling about it this time. This time, it'll be different."

"Ashfeather, Longfang's in total control over the entire Clan," Silverheart retorted, sounding skeptical. "His treachery with the Tai Kwan is too powerful. I think we should just get out of here and leave this horrible place behind."

Nightpaw flicked her tail at her mentor and pushed her half-eaten salmon to the side. "I'm with Sweet Thing over there. I've seen enough of BoulderClan! And I can't even see!" she added, her blind pale green eyes widening.

Goldwing, knowing that Ashfeather was right, added, "But we got Archie back. Now there's nothing to stop us from telling Cavestar about the War and the treachery."

Ashfeather purred and grinned as he laid a paw on the AirClan warrior's shoulder. "See? He's with me! It's the main reason why we came here in the first place. We have to try. If not, then how can we call ourselves warriors?"

Silverheart now looked quite rapt as she thought this over. "Well...I _guess_ things can change if Cavestar knows the truth."

"I don't trust this new positive Ashfeather," Nightpaw mewed shadily. Then, pointing her paw at Ashfeather, she growled accusingly, "Longfang hypnotized you, didn't he!"

Suddenly, Goldwing saw something out of the corner of his left eye. He rushed to the edge of the water and saw three EarthClan ships off in the distance; it seemed the Tai Kwan was searching for AvatarClan. Silverheart and Ashfeather ran up beside him, their blue eyes filled with worry.

"That's probably the Tai Kwan looking for us. So what now?" Ashfeather mewed, turning to look at his sister.

The silver she-cat paused, looking down to think. Then she lifted her head, resolve written all over her face, as she meowed, "Let's fly."

_That's the spirit! _Goldwing praised his crush silently.

**...**

The cats held on tight as Archie soared toward the palace of BoulderClan. He roared defiantly as he turned to start his descent. The heroes were clinging to the fur on his back, Goldwing riding on his neck. Nightpaw in particular was holding on for dear life, her eyes wide with fear.

While they had been riding on Archie, they noticed that his saddle was missing. Goldwing made a mental note to buy Archie a new saddle and some new supplies while they were at it. That way, their flying trips would be better than usual.

"Can we PLEASE get a new saddle?" Nightpaw was yowling, burying her face in a mound of fur. "Flying bareback is scary!"

Archie's response was a roar as he flew down further towards the palace. It was a huge set of buildings at the center of the city, surrounded by a circular wall.

_So that's the palace, _Goldwing thought. _Rather big, isn't it?_

"There it is," Ashfeather meowed as if he could read Goldwing's mind. "That space of territory is Cavestar's palace. His chambers should be somewhere in the middle."

"But we have to be careful," Silverheart warned him. "That damn Longfang probably warned Cavestar we're coming to his palace."

Ashfeather frowned at her. "What makes you say that? If you ask me, we'll sail through there and..._MROWR!_"

Just in time, Archie evaded a massive stone that streaked up and past them, leaving a billowing trail of dust behind it. The white-furred dragon emerged from the smoke cloud with a growl of defiance.

"What in StarClan's name was that?" Nightpaw squealed with shock.

"Surface to air rocks!" Ashfeather yowled in alarm. "More incoming!"

Below, several rows of massive, puck-shaped boulders were being launched skyward by teams of EarthBending troops. Goldwing braced himself, ready to attack if he needed to. But Archie had that all covered.

The Asian Lung evaded several more of the streaking missiles, which were being shot in rapid succession. Two EarthBenders lifted the Archie-sized stones from the ground, and two more rushed forward to send one hurtling toward the heroes. Goldwing stared steadily ahead at the palace as they flew over the launch sites. One of the massive stones curved right at him, but he used his paw to swat it casually, shattering it without even glancing away. Archie emerged from the dust once more as more projectiles streaked towards him. The Avatar Cat split a boulder with a strike of his staff, sending either half safely to the side.

Below, an EarthClan commander, mounted upon an armored bay horse, signaled to the scores of EarthBenders arrayed behind him on the central causeway. Archie continued to plunge towards the palace, Goldwing perched on his left horn. The AirClan warrior leapt down to land directly in front of the commander. Striking the ground with the full force of his descent, he EarthBended a cascading ring of rising stone blocks, which spread outward like a shockwave.

The EarthBending troops were flung into the air like rag-dolls, dropping unconscious to the plaza surface. Archie landed directly in front of the mounted commander and, bringing his huge face close, knocked him off his mount with a massive roar. The bay horse fled in panic, neighing loudly, and the commander crawled away.

Goldwing strode forth with an intense glare as the others leapt down to dismount from Archie's back behind him. Everyone dashed together toward the palace stairs along the block-paved road. Ahead, more EarthBenders lined either side of their path. Acting in unison, each Bended up a head-sized block of stone and hurled it at the heroes. Goldwing swiped some of them from the air with his paw while Nightpaw pushed up outcrops of stone to block others. Twirling his staff around his body, the Avatar Cat caused the large stone blocks of the road to rotate, shielding them from yet more of the attacks.

Meanwhile, Silverheart was stunning cats with vicious cracks of her long water whip. She kept calling out "Sorry!" every time she attacked and winced at their pain.

Yet another group of EarthBenders rush down the road toward them. With a single EarthBending move, Nightpaw flipped the road up like dominoes (dotted blocks Twolegs had once played) before flipping them back. The warriors were pinned helplessly at the waist by the large sheets of stone.

"Sorry!" Silverheart meowed to them as she rushed past. "We just want to see Cavestar!"

The heroes arrived at a moat at the foot of the wide stairs. More EarthBender troops wait up the first flight of stairs, and dozens more approached from either flank. Goldwing was almost forced to stop, but nothing would stop them now. They would have to go through them like a big badger crashing through brushwood.

With a tremendous effort, the Benders on the stairs lifted a pair of enormous mammoth statues. They hurled them from atop the stairs to plunge down at the heroes. Ashfeather looked up and yowled in horror as the statue's shadow fell over him. But Nightpaw and Goldwing were quick to Bend up a massive barrier of stone blocks over everyone; the two statues rocketed off it with ground-shaking crash.

Emerging from behind the barrier, Silverheart leapt forward, drawing her water once more from her reserve. She created a narrow arcing ramp on the edge of the moat ahead of her, using it to launch herself up and over the moat, drawing a tendril of water from below her. She twirled her slender form about in the air, spinning with the long strand orbiting her. Landing gracefully, she slapped them into the moat, tumbled, and landed in a defensive stance. Spotting another group of warriors, she sent out a tentacle of water to snatch them into the moat as well.

"Good work!" Goldwing called to her.

"I'd like it too if we weren't hurting them!" Silverheart retorted.

_Okay! I was just kidding! _Goldwing growled silently.

He leapt across the moat and, with a frigid gust of wind, froze the surface of the water, trapping the warriors. Archie and the others make their way across the bridge behind him. The hero cats reformed on the other side of the moat as more rocks rained down from atop the towering main palace stair. Yet another wave of warriors poured forth from the palace, racing down the stairs to join the battle, their eyes wild with battle.

With mighty EarthBending power, Nightpaw forced the entire length of the great stair to begin folding in on itself, leaving a smooth stone ramp. The EarthClan warrior cats began sliding helplessly down, their claws scraping hopelessly against the stone, as Nightpaw and Goldwing Bended an elevator platform of stone and began ascending the ramp. Dozen warrior cats fell down past them as they rose up.

"Seriously? What's wrong with you bastards?" Ashfeather howled as they rose. "We're on _your_ side! Oops, sorry," he added as another warrior fell, yowling along the way.

As the earth elevator reached the top of the stairs, another dozen warriors closed in from either flank. One by one, Nightpaw and Goldwing Bended up a wall of stone and used them to drive back the approaching warriors. Finally, the team reached the entrance to the palace proper and hurried inside.

Goldwing had to admit that this seemed to be a large palace. This reminded him of the temple at his former home, the home he had to leave before becoming frozen by accident. But when he saw his friends run ahead of him, he ran faster to catch up with them.

Ashfeather pointed his muzzle towards a passageway, and they took it. Running down the hall, they came across a four-way intersection in a large vaulted room. More warriors spilled out from the other three passageways, but with a stomp of her paw, Nightpaw pinned several of them to the ceiling with up-thrust pillars of rock.

As she continued to wield her powers against them, Ashfeather asked her, "Which way do we go? Which way?"

"How should I know?" the black cat retorted. "I'm still thinking on leaving!"

As she finished speaking, Nightpaw drove two warriors back with a rippling wave of stone. When that was done, Ashfeather raced off to try and find Cavestar before Longfang could. A wave of respect for the dark gray tabby made Goldwing purr; Ashfeather might have been either goofy or snarky, but he was a good cat to depend upon.

As the three other cats continued to fight, Ashfeather started pushing open doors. Inside the third room, there was a tabby cat in a long robe in front of a large mirror. She saw Ashfeather, gave a yowl of shock, and tried to run away, but she tripped and fell on her face.

"Whoops!" Ashfeather mewed, closing his eyes and looking away. "My bad! Wrong room!"

**...**

For some odd reason, Bearclaw seemed to go much slower than Irontail would expect from the prideful dark tabby. But it was probably good for his nephew to let go of the Avatar Cat's pet dragon; StarClan would look down to him more favorably. Irontail knew that since Bearclaw had done a good deed, a good deed would be done for him too.

But Bearclaw just remained silent all the way back to their flat. In fact, his steps seemed to be a bit off as he stumbled around a bit; it looked like he might have sprained an ankle.

Irontail gently nudged Bearclaw into the flat and closed the door behind him. Then he purred, "I'm proud of you for what you did, my nephew. Letting the Avatar Cat's pet dragon free...that is very becoming a warrior."

But Bearclaw slurred feebly, "I...I don't feel so good."

Irontail looked around at his nephew in surprise. Bearclaw's amber eyes seemed to be out of focus as if he was having a vision. Then, to his shock, the young dark brown tabby tom fell unconscious to the floor, breaking a vase in the process.

"Bearclaw!" Irontail mewed with worry, rushing over to his side. He started to lick him frantically to wake him up, but Bearclaw just mumbled something, swiping his paws at him feebly.

_What is wrong with him? Did he get greencough? ...no. Greencough comes around during leaf-bare, and it's newleaf. So...what made him like this?_

**...**

Back at Cavestar's palace, the heroes were standing in a vast hall. Behind them, the passage was choked with rubble and wreckage. Goldwing felt quite bad for attacking these warriors in the leader's palace, but if Longfang told them to attack, he wouldn't feel bad. But if Cavestar told them to attack them, he would have to admire the leader's firmness.

Turning around on the spot, Ashfeather climbed on top of the rubble pile to look past it. Down the passageway, he spotted a massive set of double doors, clad in gold.

"Great StarClan! That's an impressive door," the WaterClan warrior remarked.

Leaping down and sprinting down the hall, he launched a flying kick at the colossal doors. His hind paw impacted with no effect, and he hung in the air a moment before dropping comically to the floor. He jumped up and began pushing feebly at them just when Nightpaw and Goldwing closed in behind him.

The two cats struck the doors with their Bending powers, causing them to burst out from their hinges. With a startled cry, Ashfeather was flung inward with the doors and skidded to a stop on his face. He stood up, rubbing the back of his head, and turned around to hiss, "A little warning next time, if you please!"

The heroes rushed past the fallen doors into a vast chamber lined with ornate pillars and lit by hanging lanterns. They came to a halt before a large dais, weapons at the ready. Seated upon a golden throne was the leader of EarthClan himself.

He was a bespectacled young gray-&-white tomcat wearing a simple crown and necklace of jade beads; he had a narrow face and sharp green eyes. Longfang suddenly arrived and put himself in front of the leader, followed by a protective line of Tai Kwan agents. Both sides seemed prepared to join in the battle.

"Cavestar, we have to talk to you!" Goldwing told the leader urgently.

Longfang turned his head around to meow over his shoulder, "They lie, Cavestar. They are just here to overthrow you."

"No we're not!" Ashfeather barked. "We're on your side! We came here to help you!"

"You have to trust us. Please, sir!" Silverheart added more calmly.

Nightpaw didn't say anything.

Finally, Cavestar rose from his throne and leapt down in front of them. Then he growled in an aggravated tone, "Oh really? You invaded my territory and palace, attacked my warriors on my command, and even broke down my big fancy door! And you expect me to believe you?"

"He has us in the bag right there," Nightpaw agreed scathingly.

"Now if you really ARE on my side," Cavestar went on, "I command you to drop your fighting stances and stand down."

The heroes looked around at each other, knowing that there was no other choice. So, one by one, they dropped their fighting stances.

With an attempting charm and a wag of his tail, Goldwing chirped, "See? We're all friends here, Your Earthiness!"

But Cavestar, unimpressed, just went on with frowning grimly. With a quick wave of his tail, Longfang signaled for the Tai Kwan to attack, making Goldwing growl. But before the cats of AvatarClan could react, these cats projected their stone paws at them, binding their hind paws together and their front paws together.

As Goldwing strained against his bonds, Longfang smiled wickedly, letting the Tai Kwan siege him and his friends. Nightpaw was growling with anger while Silverheart and Ashfeather shared looks of horror.

But Goldwing wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"Arrest these assassins right now," Longfang growled to his Tai Kwan cats. They obeyed and stalked threateningly towards Goldwing and his friends, who were still bound to their stone chains.

"But we dropped our weapons!" Ashfeather protested, his pale eyes wide. "We're on your side!"

However, Longfang just growled, "Enough of this nonsense. Make sure the Avatar Cat and his little friends never see the day of light ever again. Take them to where not even the crows can drop their droppings on them!"

Goldwing closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate as he knew it. But he wanted to make sure he would take whatever was thrown at him before his friends would. The Avatar Cat wanted to make sure his friends were safe; after all, the safety of all cats in a Clan was more important than the life of just one cat.

But suddenly, Cavestar's eyes had widened at two words. "The Avatar Cat? Are YOU the Avatar Cat?" he asked Ashfeather, flicking his tail at him.

Ashfeather quickly shook his head and nudged Goldwing. "No, not me. It's him."

"Yep, that's me," Goldwing meowed. Effortlessly escaping his bonds, the golden tom rose up one of his forelegs and then allowed his forelegs to be bound again.

"Does it really matter, Cavestar?" Longfang growled to his leader, his yellow-green eyes narrowing. "After all, they _are _enemies of the state and Clan."

"...I suppose you're right," the gray-&-white tom agreed, though he looked uncertain.

His platypus bear, however, walked over to Goldwing, sniffed him a little, and nudged him a bit with its bill. This caused Goldwing to laugh at the thought of having the strange yet friendly animal sniff him. Even Cavestar seemed to smile at this antic.

"I see Yogi likes him," he purred with amusement. But while Longfang scowled at him, Cavestar went on seriously, "Let them go, Longfang. I will hear what the Avatar Cat and his friends have to say to me."

Seeing the flick of his tail, the Tai Kwan shared disgusted looks, but they did as they were told. They used EarthBending to pull back the stone paws covering the heroes' legs until they were free to stretch. Goldwing felt happy that his long legs were free from their bonds; without free space, his legs would be cramped forever.

Ignoring the displeased glare Longfang was giving him, Goldwing stepped forward and began, "Sir, there is a war going on right now. For fourteen years, actually. The Tai Kwan has kept it a secret from you. It's a conspiracy to control the city, and to control you."

Cavestar's sharp green eyes narrowed as he mewed, "A secret war? That sounds mouse-brained!"

"Indeed!" Longfang added mockingly.

"Longfang didn't want us to tell you, so he stole our dragon to blackmail us," Goldwing insisted, glaring accusingly at the deputy. "And blackmail is the least of his crimes. He brain-washed and murdered our friend!"

Longfang turned to his leader. "Lies. They spew lies from their mouths. I have never even seen a dragon in my life, your Highness. To be honest," he added, looking aside so that he didn't notice the smirk, "I thought dragons were extinct."

Cavestar turned around and leapt back onto his throne, looking skeptical as he looked over at Goldwing. "For an Avatar Cat, your claim is quite hard to believe."

"These ruffians are part of a rebel cell my agents have been tracking for a moon. If you listen to them, you'll bring about your own destruction," Longfang explained into the gray-&-white tom's ear.

There was a few minutes' worth of silence. Then finally, Cavestar sighed reluctantly and mewed, "I'm sorry, Avatar Cat, but I have to trust my deputy."

Goldwing felt distraught as one of the Tai Kwan cats stalked towards him. As they were being led from the throne room, the golden cat felt upset for not convincing Cavestar in time. Now things would look bleak for the world.

But Ashfeather suddenly turned around with a look of inspiration. He spoke up, "Hold on there! I can prove this jackass is lying! Longfang says he's never seen a dragon before, right? Ask him to remove his cloak."

Longfang, who had been wearing a green cloak, hissed with disgust, "What? For the love of our ancestors, I am NOT stripping!"

To their rising hope, Cavestar looked rather thoughtful again. Goldwing and Ashfeather shared a smile and nodded knowingly at each other; this was a chance to convince Cavestar that his own deputy kidnapped Archie.

Drawing in a mighty breath of air, the Avatar Cat blew a powerful breeze of wind at Longfang, blowing up the red-brown tom's cape. The tooth-mark bruise he received from Archie and the dried blood from the Battouga were clearly seen on his lean left shoulder.

"See? Right there!" Goldwing mewed, twitching an ear at the deputy. "Archie bit him!"

"Never seen a dragon before, eh?" Ashfeather smirked at Longfang.

"That would happen to be a rather large marking," Longfang retorted, fixing the cape back on his body. "One that was on me when I was born. _Thank you _for showing everyone that."

But Cavestar was once again unconvinced. "Well then, I suppose there's no way to prove where that came from."

But Ashfeather's eyes lit up yet again as he insisted, "Hold it! Of course there's a way! Where there's a will, there's a way!"

"You been reading Twoleg sayings again?" Nightpaw asked him, her right brow arched.

Ignoring that little scene, the four cats of AvatarClan had brought Archie into the palace and the throne room. When the dragon was brought into the room, he gaped open his huge mouth to show his razor-sharp teeth. Goldwing pointed a paw to one of his large teeth, and then he slid over to point at the matching bite marks on the deputy's left shoulder.

"Hmmm..." Cavestar looked very thoughtful once again. Finally, he meowed, "Yep, that looks like a dragon bite to me. And it pretty much proves it."

_Yes!_

Goldwing leapt back to his friends just as they started cheering, "Yeah! Woo hoo!"

But Cavestar ruined the happy moment by meowing, "But still, that doesn't prove all of this hare-brained conspiracy theory."

"Aww..." all four cats moaned as they stopped prancing and hung their heads.

"However," Cavestar meowed yet again, "I suppose we can look some more into this matter."

This made all the cats look at each other with baffled looks as they mewed stuff like "Uh...sure" and "Okay."

Goldwing looked over to the side to see Longfang glaring at them with hate in his green eyes. Then, flicking his tail at his Tai Kwan cats, he leapt down from the throne area and stalked out of the room, his warriors behind him. The Avatar Cat could tell that this part of the battle was won, but the real one was not over yet.

He vowed to be prepared.

**...**

Groans filled the small room as Bearclaw continued to toss and moan in his nest in the flat. His uncle was crouching next to him as he reached his paw over to take a cloth from a tub of water. Irontail had no idea what had made Bearclaw to fall ill, but he prayed to StarClan to help his nephew recover.

Still thinking of this, he felt the dark tabby's forehead and mewed worryingly, "Your forehead is very hot right now. You just have a very intense fever." Placing the tub's cool rag on Bearclaw's head, he added, "There. That should help you cool down some more."

"Uncle...I'm thirsty..." Bearclaw rasped, trying to get up. But his legs wobbled as he tried, and he only ended up falling back into his nest.

"Here. Have a drink," Irontail replied, dipping moss in water from another bucket. He supported Bearclaw's broad shoulders while he tried to drink, mewing, "Stay in your nest and don't move around too much."

Bearclaw swatted the moss out of his jaws, leaned into the bucket, and gulped down mouthfuls of the cool liquid. He tossed it away, turned around a bit, and grabbed the bucket again, pouring it down his throat and splashing his chest. He hurled it against a wall before settling back down in his nest, coughing.

This behavior made Irontail sigh with worry. Bearclaw didn't seem to be recovering fast enough, so he decided to get him some borage leaves, chickweed, and catmint. _There should be some herb store nearby, _he told himself.

_But I can't leave my nephew, _he thought, looking back towards his shivering nephew. _Please, great StarClan, give him strength to endure this fever._

**...**

Against Longfang telling him not to, Cavestar went with AvatarClan to one of the city's many trains. Riding on Archie outside the train, Goldwing could see the gray-&-white leader looking around him in awe. He wondered why Cavestar was acting like he was surprised, so he let Archie get nearer to hear the talking.

The train was quickly passing over the city on its track. Inside, the passengers were wearing stunned expressions on their faces. Everyone was staring at their leader, who stood in the center of the car, flanked by four of his warriors.

"So this is what a train feels like," Cavestar mewed, looking uncomfortable as the passengers on either side stared at him with awe. "I had no idea it would be this...public."

"You've never been outside the upper ring before?" Silverheart asked, sounding stunned.

Cavestar shook his head. "No. I've never even been out the palace before." He looked out the window and saw Archie and Tobias flying, purring, "Now that's what I call a good way to travel! So where _are_ we going, may I ask?"

"We're going under Lake Mossrock, sir. To the Tai Kwan's secret lair," Ashfeather answered. "You'll get to see where the hypnotizing and conspiracy took place."

**...**

At last, the cats had arrived at the shores of Lake Mossrock, where there weren't other animals except for prey and elephant seals. Since Cavestar had never tasted prey before, Goldwing and Ashfeather had caught a hare for him, but after eating it, he had admitted that it didn't taste too good. The elephant seals that were resting near them barked loudly before the lead bulls led their harems into the water.

Nightpaw stepped forward to the edge of the water and, with a small hop, attempted to raise the path that led to the underground passage. However, only broken rubble rose to the surface.

"What the...? It's gone!" the small black cat rasped.

"Aw shit!" Ashfeather moaned, his voice rising with dismay. But he shook himself and mewed in a hopeful way, "But that's okay! Still have my optimistic side!"

Silverheart sighed, "It looks like the Tai Kwan knew we were coming. So they destroyed the evidence."

"Well, that seems awfully convenient," Cavestar observed, frowning.

Ashfeather turned to the gray-&-white tom. "Hey, if it proves anything, it proves even more that the conspiracy is real!"

Goldwing looked over at Cavestar to see if the leader would accept anything he and his friends had told him. But he was shocked and dismayed to see Cavestar's green eyes narrow with irritation and displeasure.

"Longfang was right about you four," the young leader growled. "This conspiracy isn't real. This is all just a waste of time. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the palace."

At that, he flicked his tail towards his warriors and stalked away, his warriors following him.

Goldwing flattened his ears in disappointment and discontent. This was not what he was really expecting; then again, they were young warriors, and Cavestar was a leader.

"Hey, what about the wall?" Silverheart spoke up, sounding inspired. "They won't cover _that_ up in time!"

"Oh yeah!" Goldwing mewed, feeling better. The golden cat vaulted upward, leaping into the air to land in front of the departing gray-&-white tom. Then he mewed, "Cavestar, if you come with us to the outer wall, we'll show you the proof that this secret war is real!"

"No leader has ever been to the outer wall before," Cavestar retorted. "And I'm not going. Now please get out of my way. I don't have any more time for more nonsense."

He pushed past Goldwing and stalked away, his warriors following him.

Goldwing felt sad all over again, previously hoping that Cavestar would listen just a bit. But it looked like Longfang had influenced him too much, and he was listening to those lies. How were they, young warriors, going to make a leader pay attention to them?

"Wait!" Ashfeather called, rushing up the slope to talk to Cavestar. "If you come with us out to the outer wall, you can ride on Archie this time."

As if called by a recent command, Archie flew down and landed in front of the cats. Cavestar's frown was replaced by a small smile.

It didn't take long for Cavestar to go onto Archie, for the gray-&-white leader was eager to have a ride. However, when Archie took off into the air and began flying, Cavestar buried his claws into a clump of fur, wailing in fear.

"First time flying?" Nightpaw asked him trivially.

"Yes! It's thrilling and terrifying at the same time!" Cavestar answered her with bated breath.

Nightpaw purred, "Yeah, I hate it too."

Cavestar looked down and muttered, "I have to be honest with you four, but part of me hopes that what you're telling me...isn't real."

Goldwing, hearing what the leader said, agreed under his breath, "I wish it wasn't."

He hadn't forgotten of how FireClan had wiped out his Clan and had nearly driven the Southern WaterClan to extinction. All day long, every single day, he hoped that this war wasn't real and he would be able to find inner peace. But instead, all four Clans were in a war, even though one Clan was now hanging onto the shoulders of Goldwing.

But he had to live with it. It was time to put the past behind him, he decided as Archie flew over the patchwork fields that laid between the city and the outer wall.

**...**

Irontail sat a bit close to Bearclaw as the dark brown tabby tom fell asleep. To help cool him down, the fat gray tabby tom mopped his feverish brow with a damp piece of moss as the young warrior continued to moan and toss about in his sleep. But what Irontail didn't know was that he was having a dream...

_In his dreams, a figure kneeled upon the leader's throne-mat behind a screen of golden flames. Rows of FireClan cats bowed in respect towards the throne; they were bowing down towards Bearclaw. Clad in the robes and crown of the leader of FireClan, his serene face was without scar or marks; even his ear was restored to normal. He was Bearstar, leader of FireClan._

_As he sat coolly, not feeling anything, two graceful griffins, one black and one white, flew down from tall pillars next to him to address him. He could hear their whispers even though the other cats and fellow Clanmates couldn't._

"_It's getting quite late, Bearstar," the white griffin, who strangely had Frostfire's voice, hissed in his ear. "Are you planning on retiring soon?"_

"_No. I'm not tired yet," Bearstar replied, his tail wrapped around his paws._

_The white griffin drew closer to his face, its black eyes glowing red. "Relax, Bearstar. Just let go; give into sleep's lulling power. Shut your eyes for a while."_

"_NO!"_

_Bearstar turned around to face the black griffin, who had spoken in Irontail's voice. Its black eyes were now glowing blue, more brightly than the white griffin's eyes._

_The black griffin went on, "Bearstar, do not listen to the black griffin! Do not give in to its sharp temptations! You have to get out of here as fast as you can! Now go! Before it's too late!"_

_Both griffins sat close to Bearstar before the white griffin spoke in a hissing voice._

"_Sleep now, Bearstar..."_

_At that, both griffins quickly disappeared into thin air. The throne room was swallowed by inky blackness, and the four pillars beside him crumbled and fell into the void. As the room went dark, the warriors' armor collapsed to the floor, empty._

_Bearstar looked around in the darkness, amber eyes wide with distress. Two red eyes appeared in the darkness, and then the face of the white griffin appeared, which closed in rapidly._

"_Sleep now," it hissed, its voice rising. "Just LIKE MOTHER!"_

_Then it opened its beak, screeching, as it lunged at him, swallowing him up into darkness. Within that darkness, he could see his own mother facing him with terror: Bearheart._

"_Bearstar! Help me!"_

"_Mother!" Bearstar yowled back._

_He could hear her pleading voice call to him from far away, see his own distraught face in her warm amber eyes. He tried to reach out to the light brown tabby queen, but no matter how hard he tried, she was too far away. Bearstar was kneeling once more on the throne-mat in a sea of blackness, and a hole seemed to open up beneath him, swallowing everything._

Back in the waking world, Irontail watched with anxiety as Bearclaw twitched in his sleep, moaning and tossing about. He felt like there was nothing else much to do except wait for the herbs to do their magic. If not, then he would have to watch his nephew's spirit walk up to the stars of StarClan.

**...**

As Archie carried everyone to the top of the outer wall, Goldwing scanned the area to keep an eye out for the Drill. This machine was their last chance to show Cavestar that the War was very real. Finally, as they passed atop it, he looked down in excitement; the Drill was still there, its long point buried deep within the wall.

"I see it!" Goldwing call to the others.

Cavestar's green eyes widened as he spotted it. "What in StarClan's name is that thing?"

"It's a Drill," Ashfeather replied. "Made by FireClan to break through your city's walls."

As the dark gray tabby warrior talked, Goldwing could see the Drill below Archie, still partially imbedded in the great wall. It sat in a lake of slurry and was enclosed by a newly built perimeter of stone wall. Cavestar had a stunned expression on his face; it appeared that he was finally convinced about the War.

Once they landed on the great wall, Cavestar gazed down at the massive machine penetrating the outer defenses; his warriors beside him also had shocked looks on their faces. The three warriors and apprentice gave them sympathetic looks.

"I-I can't believe this," Cavestar groaned in a stunned tone. "I can't believe we never knew this."

But just at that moment, he looked to his right as Longfang arrived on a stone elevator, flanked by two of his Tai Kwan agents. He looked down at the Drill while Goldwing and his friends gave him looks of hatred and contempt.

_That bastard better not lie!_

"I can explain, sir," the red-brown deputy began meowing sensibly as he approached his leader. Flicking his tail down towards the Drill, he went on, "This is just nothing more than a...as they call it..._construction project_."

Silverheart flicked her tail angrily at the Drill and retorted, "Oh, _really_? Then perhaps you'd like to explain what a FireClan emblem is doing on your..._construction project_."

Goldwing looked down towards the embedded Drill again. Just like Silverheart said, there was indeed a FireClan emblem on the top of it. But he hadn't noticed it before; he had been too busy battling Frostfire.

Longfang replied weakly, "It's been imported. You can't trust domestic machinery." He smiled weakly, but everyone stared at him as if they didn't believe him. Then he continued more lamely, "Surely you don't believe these rogues instead of your most loyal deputy!"

Cavestar, who was still clearly in shock, looked first to the heroes and then over to Longfang. The deputy of BoulderClan was wearing an unreadable expression on his face as if he couldn't bear to look at a mouse. Then he closed his eyes and started to think of what had happened all that day; Goldwing prayed to StarClan to help Cavestar.

"Tai Kwan," he finally mewed, opening his eyes, "place Longfang under arrest. I want for him to stand trial for his crimes towards his Clan. And today, in the name of StarClan, I hereby demote Longfang from deputy and make him a prisoner of his own Clan."

"_What_?" Longfang spat, his expression changing to shock and alarm.

The heroes looked surprised at this sudden victory, not expecting this kind of reaction at all. It looked like Cavestar was now listening to them, but arresting Longfang? Inwardly, Goldwing had to admire what the leader of BoulderClan just did.

The two Tai Kwan agents exchanged glances, and then they snare Longfang's neck in its chain-manacles. They pulled him backwards, securing his scruff to make sure he did not try to escape.

"You...you can't arrest me! Not me!" Longfang growled, sounding a bit unlike himself. "You will all need me more than you will know!"

But Cavestar's gaze did not falter at this. Instead, he jerked his head towards the palace, and the Tai Kwan padded away to the stone elevator, Longfang snarling along the way.

"Ha! Looks like Longfang is Long Gone!" Ashfeather called mockingly after the former deputy. As he laughed, he wiped a tear from his eyes and added, "Oh yeah, I've been _dying_ to use that!"

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

It was evening. The cats of AvatarClan and Cavestar had come back to the palace after Longfang had been arrested and demoted. The four heroes were lined before the base of the dais, looking hopeful. Cavestar was seated on his throne, his pet platypus bear sitting at the foot of the throne.

Goldwing felt proud of the leader for doing the right thing, though he didn't know that would happen. There was now no more need to prove that the War and the conspiracy were real after all. Cavestar had seen the Drill and the betrayal before his very eyes.

"Thank you, young heroes, for opening my eyes," the gray-&-white leader meowed. "All this time, what I thought was a great metropolis was merely a city of fools. And that makes me the leader of fools. We're at war with _FireClan_," he groaned, hanging his head in shame.

"That's why we came here in the first place," Ashfeather spoke up, stepping forward as Tobias landed on Cavestar's shoulder. "I think you can help us win the War."

Goldwing added earnestly, "We don't have much time left. At the end of greenleaf, a meteor will be coming down to Earth. Its energy will give the FireBenders great strength. If no one can stop them, they will be unstoppable."

Tobias flew over onto Yogi's shoulder and settled there while Cavestar leaned towards the four cats. His eyes were wide with shock and horror at what he had been told.

Ashfeather added, "But there is hope. Before the meteor comes, we have a golden opportunity. A solar eclipse is coming in greenleaf; it's like the eclipse that happened back in the days of the old Clans. The sun will be blocked out by the moon, and the FireBenders will become helpless like a newborn kit."

"What are you suggesting?" Cavestar asked him.

"That's when we strike back," Ashfeather replied. "That's the day we invade FireClan and end the War: the Day of Dark Sun."

Goldwing cast a sideways glance at the WaterClan warrior. _How the hell does he come up with those names?_

However, Cavestar looked troubled as he looked down. "I-I don't know. I _would_ like to help you out, but that would involve moving troop of warriors out of BoulderClan. We'd be helpless."

Ashfeather insisted, "But look at you! You're already helpless! No offense. But anyways, sir, FireClan won't stop until your city falls. Either you can sit back and wait for that to happen, or you can seize the chance and give yourself a fighting cause."

Everyone began waiting anxiously as the leader started to consider his options. Even Tobias and Yogi, who were fooling around with each other, stopped playing to see what Cavestar would say.

"All right then," the gray-&-white leader finally meowed. "You have my full support."

There wasn't enough to be said of how happy the heroes were feeling right now. Ashfeather had pulled Silverheart and Nightpaw into a happy group hug while Goldwing skated around them in his Air Paws. Tobias had taken off from Yogi's shoulder and flew down towards his feline friends, cawing and circling above them.

When they stopped dancing for joy, Goldwing began kneading the ground with pure excitement. Cavestar had finally agreed to join in with the rebellion, and Longfang was no longer around to dissuade him from listening. Now with three Clans united, they could defeat Darkstar and end the War once and for all.

"Cavestar." Goldwing looked up to see a tom with scruffy pale ginger tabby fur entering the throne room and approaching his leader. "I'm sorry for interrupting you like this. But I have some news for you." He padded up next to the heroes at the base of the dais, and dipped his head to them in respect.

"It's all right," Cavestar replied. Turning to AvatarClan, he mewed, "This cat is one of my senior warriors and the leader of the Congress of Five. He's named Paleblaze."

Paleblaze nodded to the four Clan cats again before turning back to his leader. "Cavestar, we have some news for you. We've searched through Longfang's office long and hard. I believe we found something that might interest you all."

The cats of AvatarClan traded confused looks, wondering what the senior warrior was talking about. In the meantime, Cavestar nodded and replied, "Thank you, Paleblaze. We'll come and check it out. In the meantime, since Longfang is no longer our deputy, I'll announce who the new deputy will be."

He looked up to the ceiling and meowed, "I say these words in this throne room that StarClan may hear and approve my choice. Paleblaze will be the new deputy of BoulderClan."

"Really? Thank you, sir," Paleblaze purred with shock and joy. He dipped his head to his leader while all the cats in the room called his name.

After the deputy ceremony, the new deputy led everyone from the throne room into Longfang's private room. As usual, there was the green fire in the fireplace, and rows of books flooded the shelves on the walls. Not only that, but there was what appeared to be a hypnotizing potion, still and quiet.

A guard was carrying a small and ornate chest in his jaws as he stalked into the room. Paleblaze, Cavestar, and the heroes had just gathered around a desk in the middle of Longfang's private study. The guard slid the box across the desk to Cavestar, dipped his head to him, and then left the room.

"There are secret files on everyone in BoulderClan," Paleblaze explained while Cavestar opened the chest. "Including you four young'uns."

"Secret files?" Goldwing asked, tilting his head to the side.

Cavestar pawed out a scroll and meowed, "Indeed. Nightpaw, this one is for you."

He rolled the small scroll over to Nightpaw, who caught it by slamming her paw down on it, as if catching a mouse. To Goldwing's surprise, the black apprentice pushed the scroll to Silverheart; Goldwing quickly remembered that Nightpaw couldn't read, so her mentor had to read for her.

"It's a letter from your mom," Silverheart mewed as she read the scroll. "She wants you to come home. She sounded worried about you."

Nightpaw's milky-green eyes widened with shock at what she heard. Then she growled with disgust, "Longfang intercepted our mail from home? That is _one_ sad fucker."

"Goldwing, this one is yours," Cavestar meowed, ignoring Nightpaw's cursing. He took out another scroll and pawed it over to the golden warrior.

Goldwing took the scroll as Paleblaze added, "This note was found on your dragon's horn when the Tai Kwan held him prisoner."

The Avatar Cat nodded as he observed the scroll. He was amazed at how the being sent this to him had found Archie safe and sound. And by the signature on the front (that, and a primate-like hand print), it looked like a primate had signed this.

"It's from the eastern AirClan camp," he told his friends, taking the wrapping off the scroll.

"Is there anything in there for my brother and I?" Silverheart asked Cavestar, who began to dig through the scrolls inside.

Cavestar shook his head to them kindly. "I'm sorry, but I don't see anything else in there for you."

Both WaterClan siblings shared sorrowful looks, Ashfeather's ears flattening. Goldwing knew that any news from the southern WaterClan camp was vital, since they had left six moons ago to help him in his journey. They were perhaps waiting for news from their father, Emberstar; they had even had a message from moons ago saying where to find him, but they turned it down to still travel with Goldwing.

Just like Silverheart and Ashfeather, Goldwing felt sad with them. Already, these two cats and Nightpaw were becoming a family to him alongside with Archie and Tobias. And like any other parent, Goldwing wanted to help them be happy.

"Wait," Paleblaze mewed, pawing another scroll to Silverheart. "There _is _an intelligence report that might interest you both."

When the two cats accepted the report and started reading it, Goldwing felt better as their faces became shocked and excited at the same time. That was perhaps news from Emberstar himself.

Silverheart started reading with a bit of excitement, "'A small fleet of WaterClan ships...'"

"Huh? Really?" Ashfeather squeaked, looking eagerly down at the report. "You think it might be Dad?"

"'Protecting the mouth of Iguana Bay, led by Emberstar, leader of the southern WaterClan,'" his sister mewed, her voice high with pure joy. "It IS Dad!"

**...**

_This is no ordinary fever, _Irontail sighed to himself. He felt Bearclaw's forehead again and padded away to let him get some rest. To pass the time and help his nephew out, he padded over to the kitchen and poured a bowl of cream for him. Irontail could tell that this was no ordinary sickness, for he had felt it himself after his son had died.

_That was when I fell ill at the rim of EarthClan, _he recalled. _And that was because of conflicting loyalty. Perhaps Bearclaw feels the same thing?_

"This is not an ordinary illness," Irontail told his nephew as he padded over to Bearclaw with the bowl of cream in his jaws. "But that should not stop you from enjoying some cream."

He arrived at Bearclaw's bedside and propped him up a little until he was sitting up. As he did so, Irontail supported his head with his paw as the dark tabby lapped the cream up weakly.

"U-Uncle?" Bearclaw whimpered, sounding disoriented. "W-What's happening t-to me?"

Irontail replied, "It came from your critical decision. You know, what you had done beneath that lake. It was in such conflict with your image of yourself that you are now at war within your own mind and body."

Bearclaw took a second lap of cream and rasped, "W-What the hell does that mean?" before coughing and falling back onto his nest.

"You're going through a metamorphosis, my nephew," his uncle replied. "It will not be pleasant, but when you come out of it, like how the butterfly comes out of its cocoon, you will become the handsome warrior you were always meant to be."

He mopped the young dark tabby's forehead with the damp moss as he looked out the window at the night sky. The moon was slowly rising in the sky still, and it seemed that they might approve of this new change. But Irontail hoped that didn't mean more disaster to come, even though no clouds covered the moon that night.

**...**

The cats of AvatarClan were now sitting in a circle on a rug inside Longfang's office. They were telling each other the eagerness they shared due to getting farther in the Great War.

"I can't believe this," Goldwing mewed, reading the letter he got. "There's a mandrill living at the eastern AirClan camp. He says he's a guru." As he finished, Tobias flew down from the window to land beside his master, reading the scroll in front of him.

"Guru?" Ashfeather asked, looking confused. "Is that one of those poisonous pufferfish?"

Goldwing purred, amused at this joke. "No, you're thinking of fugu. This is a guru we're talking about, and a guru is a spiritual expert. He wants to help me take the next step in my Avatar Cat journey. He says he can teach me how to control the Avatar Cat State."

This was it. The one thing he had asked Goldenstripe about back when he was not frozen. This was the mentor his own mentor was talking about, but he had no idea it would be a mandrill, not a cat. However, this didn't bother him in the slightest; in fact, he was even more excited.

"That's great, Goldwing!" Silverheart purred happily, pinning down the report with a white front paw. "And I can't believe we know where our father is now!"

Goldwing still felt guilty for hiding the map to Iguana Bay from them all those moons ago; he felt that if he had not hidden the map, they would see him sooner. The siblings seemed to have noticed the guilty look on his face, for Ashfeather padded over to pat him on the shoulder and meowed, "Hey, it's okay, buddy. It's all water under the log now."

"I know what you mean," Nightpaw mewed; she sounded reassured. "My mom's in the city! And from what I heard in that letter," she added, her voice cracking from pure joy, "it sounds like she finally understands me."

"Yeah, this is all great big news," Ashfeather pointed out. "So where do we start?"

Silverheart looked away, looking troubled about something. Goldwing wondered if they were all leaving BoulderClan together and going from one place to the next. He waited until Silverheart finally mewed, "I really hate to say this, but...I think we should split up."

Goldwing gaped at her, shocked. "S-Split up? But why? We found Archie early this morning and we got the family back together! Now you want us to separate?"

"Listen, Goldwing. I don't like it either, but you have to see this mandrill guru," the silver she-cat replied firmly, turning to face him. "If we're going to invade FireClan, then you'll have to get ready."

"Yeah," Goldwing mewed, feeling better as he smiled at her. "Well, if I'm going on over to the eastern AirClan camp, Archie and I can drop you at Iguana Bay to see your father. If that's what you want."

"But someone has to stay here and help Cavestar plan the invasion against that damn FireClan," Ashfeather meowed resignedly as he stood up. He had a glum expression on his face as he went on, "I guess I'll stay here. It won't be bad."

But Silverheart rose to her paws and told him, "No. I know how much you want to see Emberstar again and help him out. You can go to Iguana Bay. I'll stay here with Cavestar."

Ashfeather's pale blue eyes widened with shock; Goldwing knew how much he wanted to see his father again so badly. Then, with tears in his eyes, he did a strange dance on his hind legs and squealed, "You...are the best...sister...EVER!"

Then he threw himself at her into a hug and happily started licking her on the ears.

"Easy there, big brother!" Silverheart muttered, nudging him back gently. Then she purred, "But you're right. I AM the best sister."

All four cats, plus Cavestar and his warriors, laughed at this.

**...**

_Come stop your crying, it will be all right_

_Just take my hand. Hold it tight_

_I will protect you from all around you_

_I will be here, don't you cry_

The next dawn, the four AvatarClan cats got up early to prepare for their next step in the plan. Ashfeather and Nightpaw were talking with Cavestar, who was strolling down the stairs while Goldwing looked to where Silverheart was at. The pretty silver she-cat was purring as she rubbed her head against Archie's flank, who rumbled softly. Her pelt was glowing white in the dawn light, and her purr sounded pleasant and gentle.

Goldwing could feel his heart beat faster when he got near Silverheart. If he was going to tell her how he felt about her, how he loved her, this was the great chance to do it. But if he didn't tell her about it, there would be no way for them to be together.

So he swallowed hard and approached her, mewing, "Hey, Silverheart."

"Hey," Silverheart purred. Noticing him looking down and blushing, she mewed, "What's up?"

"There...there's something I have to tell you before we go." He lashed his tail a bit before he went on, "I-It's something I should've told you a long time ago."

_For one so small, you seem so strong_

_My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm_

_This bond between us can't be broken_

_I will be here, don't you cry_

Silverheart tilted her head curiously to one side. "Well, what is it?"

_This is so hard to tell her! _But Goldwing tossed his worries aside as he went on, "Silverheart, you remember when we were apprentices that I made you that necklace to replace the one you lost? And how you looked pretty?" She nodded, blushing as she remembered that, so he went on, "Well...Silverheart, I-I was wondering how I felt about you..."

Silverheart's blue eyes shone a bit as she nodded. Goldwing hoped she understood what he was trying to say.

"But anyways," he went on, "I-I think I'm...I'm in love with-"

"Alright! Who's ready for a toms-only field trip?" Ashfeather's jolly mew made Goldwing hiss with frustration. The dark gray tabby tom threw him into a headlock as the golden cat gave him a growl. "Well? You _ready_ to get going on our little toms-only trip or what?"

Goldwing inwardly gave him a growl while Silverheart had given her brother an incredulous look. He had been so close to tell the WaterClan she-cat of how he felt about her, but her own brother had kept him from doing so. At first, he wanted to cuff Ashfeather on the head, but being in a headlock prevented him from that too.

_Shit, Ashfeather! Why couldn't you leave us alone!_

"Goldwing and Ashfeather, I wish you both luck on your journey," Cavestar told the two toms as he approached them, making them turn around. "BoulderClan owes you its thanks, and we look forward very much to your return."

Ashfeather released the Avatar Cat, and all three warriors bowed respectfully to the leader.

Just then, a brown-&-cream cat approached Cavestar, carrying a message in his jaws. "Cavestar, there are three she-cats here to see you. They say they're from Heavyrose Island."

"THAT'S ECHO!" Ashfeather howled. Goldwing turned to see the WaterClan tom climbing on Archie's saddle and freezing. He slipped and fell to the stone plaza, sat up, and began rubbing his sore back.

"Does Ashfeather really like Echo?" Goldwing asked Silverheart. He wondered if Silverheart herself liked him back.

She nodded. "Yes. She's his mate now. They got together after you went ahead of us to the city."

_Huh. So he HAS gotten over Moonfeather's death._

Cavestar fixed Ashfeather with a stare. "You know those she-cats?"

Ashfeather nodded. "Oh yeah. The island guards of Heavyrose come from the Tribe Of Heavy Roses. They are a skilled group of fighters. Trustworthy too. Not only that, but they're also good friends of ours."

"Then we will welcome them as honored guests in our Clan," Cavestar purred, satisfied.

"Goldwing."

_'Cause you'll be in my heart_

_Yes, you'll be in my heart_

_From this day on, now and forever more_

The golden Avatar Cat stopped walking away and turned to where Silverheart was. But when he turned around, his vision became partly clouded by silver fur. Silverheart had thrown herself at him into a hug, and he returned the hug, his cheek brushing against his. And, to his surprise, she turned her head to his and licked him gently on the cheek.

Goldwing felt himself get hot under his fur as he looked into her eyes, blushing furiously. Did Silverheart really like him back that much? If so, then she must have hidden it from him until this moment, But no matter what happened, it felt right to be with her until they left.

_You'll be in my heart_

_No matter what they say_

_You'll be here in my heart_

_Always_

"I'll miss you guys," Nightpaw spoke up, her voice low as a whisper.

"I'll miss you too," Silverheart purred, breaking away from Goldwing's grasp and gaze.

"And me," Goldwing piped up as he stood beside his crush.

Nightpaw purred in return before mewing to her mentor, "And don't worry, Sugar Queen. I'll try and remember my warrior training if I need to fight."

The two warriors responded by pulling her gently into a loving hug, Nightpaw returning it with a small smile on her face. Ashfeather sat to the side, watching them with his tail wrapped around his front paws. Goldwing and the two she-cats looked over to him and he looked around in time to see them throw themselves at him, catching him in a group hug.

"Okay, that's enough! We love each other!" Ashfeather me0wed, sounding embarrassed. "Really. We do," he added, patting Goldwing and Silverheart on their heads.

**...**

_Bearclaw wearily got to his paws, feeling rather thirsty after his sleep. He still felt sick from this sickness, but he was slowly recovering. He was thankful for Irontail helping him, for if it hadn't for his uncle, he would not have made it this far._

_His mouth feeling dry, he slowly staggered over to a small pond outside, making sure Irontail was asleep; if he woke up, he would put him back in his nest. Bearclaw arrived at the pond, his shadow scaring the carp into the deeper end, and lapped up the cool liquid. But feeling that his face could be washed up, he dipped his head into the water, his golden paws hanging onto the rim of the pond._

_Wait...__GOLDEN_?

_The dark brown tabby tom took his head out of the water and paused until the water settled down. But he saw in his reflection that he was no longer a dark brown tabby. Instead, he had a startling appearance._

_Bearclaw still had his amber eyes, but he no longer had the red scar on his face. Instead, a white arrow stripe was running down from his head to his tail and he had white arrow stripes on his legs and paws. And his brown tabby fur had been turned to a rich creamy golden color with the same pelt length._

_He had become like the Avatar Cat._

"MROWR!"

Sitting up in a jolt, Bearclaw woke up and breathed heavily, eyes wide. He ran his one of his forepaws around his left eye, trying to see if it was a dream. Bearclaw closed his eyes as he realized that he still bore his terrible scar, the scar his father gave him. And he looked down at his forepaws; they were still dark brown.

_Thank StarClan, _he sighed as he fell fast asleep in his nest.

**...**

The skies over the barrens were clear and blue as a flock of swallows flew towards the city for their greenleaf feeding grounds. Archie was dipping up and down among the low white clouds, achieving small spins now and then. Goldwing was sitting on the dragon's neck as Ashfeather lounged comfortably on his back.

It had been a few hours since they left BoulderClan behind. Tobias wasn't with them, for he had stayed with Silverheart at the city while she made battle plans with Paleblaze. Nightpaw had been eager to see her mother again, though it was strange that only her mother wrote to her. But it didn't matter for now, for things couldn't go wrong now.

"You see?" Ashfeather was telling Goldwing smugly. "A little positive thinking CAN work well! We got Cavestar on our side now, we got Longfang demoted, and when we get back, Echo will be waiting for me!"

Goldwing purred, thinking what Ashfeather was thinking. Except the cat he was thinking of was not Echo, but Silverheart. When he came back from the eastern AirClan camp, Silverheart would be waiting for him. He could imagine the WaterClan she-cat waiting for him at the entrance of the palace, purring as he came back to her.

Thinking about it still, Goldwing muttered in a love-struck tone, "Yeah. The she-cats WILL be waiting for us. Thanks, positive attitude!"

"No problem," Ashfeather purred cheerfully. "Yep. Everything's gonna work out perfectly from now on!"

Goldwing turned back around, sharing the same smile and purring.

_Yep! It's gonna be good luck and good victories from now on!_

**...**

Longfang scraped his claws against the dirt on the ground, snarling angrily to himself. Now that he was imprisoned, there was nothing else to do but eat and sleep (and plot) until trial. How dare those year old brats do this to him, making his leader believe them over him? But he would find a way to pay them back and preserve order and progress within the city walls.

The former deputy could feel the gloom of the EarthClan prison, the walls and cell doors clad in steel. Inside one of the cells, Longfang had been sitting and plotting dejectedly. He could feel his pelt shiver from the coldness of the prison, lack of sunlight dulling his vision. Longfang got up to pace some more and, when he couldn't think for a bit, he sat back down.

The face of a Tai Kwan cat appeared at the barred window of the cell door, and a tray of food was slid through the gap beneath it. Longfang saw that the food consisted of bread, water, and two mice.

"Dinner," the Tai Kwan cat meowed loudly; Longfang could sense another cat around, and that was perhaps why this cat was speaking loudly.

As Longfang pawed a few mice over to him, the Tai Kwan cat went on quietly to him alone, "Sir, the Congress of Five and the warriors of BoulderClan are loyal to the leader, but the Tai Kwan remains loyal to _you_, Longfang."

With this done, he backed away.

Longfang looked up from the dead mice to smile in satisfaction. Despite being a prisoner and no longer being the deputy, the Tai Kwan was still loyal after what happened. His bottle green eyes brimmed with cunning and triumph as he imagined taking Cavestar down, taking full control of BoulderClan, and maintaining order and progress in the Clan. If there was no order or progress, there would be no Clan.

But as for still having the Tai Kwan with him, he could do anything. Like driving Cavestar out of the Clan.

_Oh, THAT would be the day!_

Smirking with satisfaction, the red-brown tom bent his head low and tore a piece of meat out from the mouse. With his other paw, he held the other mouse down and pressed hard, imagining squeezing the life out of those who opposed him. Especially Cavestar.

**...**

Nightpaw hesitated at the front door, took a deep breath, and exhaled nervously. She had arrived at a beautiful house somewhere at the upper ring, and she was careful to not step into any water. Her mentor had helped her get around any ponds. Anyways, she felt rather nervous at meeting her mother after running away for so long.

What would she say if she found out her daughter had run among wild cats? Would she and her father disown her for running away and becoming an apprentice? Or would they simply give her even more too much protection? But there was nothing else to do but go ahead and see what would happen.

Stepping up to the door, the black she-cat knocked lightly, and the unlocked door opened just slightly. She stepped into the unlit room, which was bare of furnishings. Nightpaw lifted her nose into the air, her jaws open, and tried to drink in the scent of cats. But there was none.

"Hello? Mom?" Nightpaw called. "Anyone here?"

She strode into the center of the large empty room with a feeling of confusion in her mind, which was replaced by suspicion. There was something wrong going around in this house. And she could smell the faint scent of blood and cement.

Nightpaw readied herself for trouble just as she felt something fall onto her from the ceiling; it smelled like metal, and it was a trap. She gave a screech of shock as it snapped her up, enclosing her in a metal box.

"HEY! Who the hell do you think you're messin' with?" she growled.

"One big-mouthed little shit who wanders too far from home!"

Nightpaw gasped at who she heard. _Badgerclaw?_

"He's right, young Lin." Nightpaw bristled at hearing Master Yu's thin voice echo around her. "It's high time you came home with us!"

_Fox-dung! TOTAL fox-dung! Why can't they leave me alone!_

**...**

Cavestar looked down from his transport platform to see his warriors before him. They were all lined up in twos as they all faced him. Even other cats of the city came forward to see their new guests coming forward.

Padding towards him were three she-cats with different colors and the faint scent of ocean; they even had green robes on their pelts. One she-cat was pale ginger, and the other was light gray with patches of white on each. And the she-cat in the lead was a reddish auburn tabby with white patches all over her face. When they approached Cavestar, they bowed low until their whiskers touched the ground.

"Greetings. And welcome to BoulderClan, cats of the Tribe of Heavy Roses," Cavestar greeted them. To his warriors, he called, "In our time of need, it is with the highest honor that I welcome our esteemed allies, the cats from the Tribe of Heavy Roses."

"We are your humble servants, sir," the she-cat named "Echo" meowed. Her voice was smooth and silky like fresh honey.

Yet Cavestar failed to see the ambition in her narrowed yellow eyes...

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Well, that's a shocker, wouldn't you say?**

**Aang: Yeah...but it wasn't the Earth King's fault. He didn't know they were spies.**

**Katara: That's right. And you heard that the Internet blacked out on July 10?**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. Crazy applegirl nut anime told me. But anyways, since tomorrow's her birthday, I'd like to ask you to read and review, and you'll get a kangaroo plush doll; she lives in Australia. Flames WON'T be allowed, but advice and constructive criticism are.**

**Aang: And here's the preview for the first part of the season finale: The Guru.**

**Preview: ****Goldwing arrives at the eastern AirClan camp, where a mandrill mystic trains him into controlling the Avatar Cat State. Meanwhile, Nightpaw tries to escape from her captors, Ashfeather finally sees his father, and Silverheart still plans along with Cavestar. Meanwhile, Bearclaw's attitude changes, making Irontail suspicious, and there are spies in the city.**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	20. The Guru

**AvatarCat12: Well, here we are! The two-part finale of Avatar Cat Book 2!**

**Katara: And we heard some interesting news. Not only are they gonna make a Book 2 of Legend Of Korra, but they'll also be making Book 3...and maybe Book 4!**

**Aang: Not only that, but there's only four more days until four years since our series ended. Can you believe it's been that long?**

**AvatarCat12: Yeah. Those were the good ol' days. But anyways, on with the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I own neither series. Michael DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter own them. And I don't own Rafiki from The Lion King either.**

**Summary: ****Goldwing arrives at the eastern AirClan camp, where a mandrill mystic trains him into controlling the Avatar Cat State. Meanwhile, Nightpaw tries to escape from her captors, Ashfeather finally sees his father, and Silverheart still plans along with Cavestar. Meanwhile, Bearclaw's attitude changes, making Irontail suspicious, and there are spies in the city.**

**Uploading Date: July 15, 2012**

**All three: Enjoy!**

**...**

_The Guru_

It was yet another beautiful morning. Irontail breathed in the scents of the sunrise: birds, growing peach blossoms, and something he was making on the stove. The old fat gray tabby tom felt the sunshine warm his flat face, making him purr with delight.

Irontail and Bearclaw had moved into a beautiful multi-story uptown complex in the inner ring after Bearclaw recovered from his illness. The elder had taken in the view of the splendid edifice to the third floor, and it was even complete with a bright silver-gray stove. Their pleasant flat was a vast advance over the apartment house in the lower ring.

A shuffling noise made Irontail turn around to see who had come into the kitchen. Bearclaw had ambled into the kitchen, his head held up and his jaws open to sniff something. The dark tabby tom still looked groggy from sleeping a lot.

"Morning, Uncle," he muttered, sniffing the air again. "What's that scent?"

"It is congee mixed with eggs," Irontail meowed, feeling doubtful about his behavior. "I'm sure you might not want any of this..."

To his shock, Bearclaw sniffed more deeply and purred; Irontail stepped back to give him some room. "Actually, it smells wonderful. I'd love to have some." Then he took a bowl from the side and scooped a pawful of the stuff into there.

_What? Did the fever do something to him?_

Irontail looked over at him with minor wonder as he scooped a pawful of congee into a bowl. "Bearclaw? Are you...all right? Ever since your fever went away, you seem...different."

"Uncle Irontail, liven up. It's a brand new day," Bearclaw purred, smiling for the first time in moons, his tail swaying around. "We got a new home, new furniture, and today's the grand opening of your new cream shop. StarClan is smiling down on us, Uncle."

He moved to the table and crouched low as he spoke, lapping mouthfuls of food from the bowl and looking out an open window. Irontail could feel his concerned look melt into a pleased smile at his nephew's new attitude. Whatever the fever had done, Bearclaw had seemed to finally turn to the good side.

After all the misfortunes he had come across along the way, it seemed that things were looking good to them. Irontail purred at this as he joined his nephew for breakfast.

**...**

_This is it for Ashfeather, _Goldwing told himself with pride for his friend. He knew how long the young WaterClan warrior wanted to see his father again so badly. Despite the reassurance that Ashfeather gave him, Goldwing still felt guilty for hiding the map from him and Silverheart long ago.

Archie had been soaring in for a landing on a seaside cliff. In the distance four large, Goldwing could see blue-sailed northern WaterClan ships over in Iguana Bay, where they had arrived at. Near the docked vessels sat an encampment of blue tents. Little dots specked here and there, and Goldwing guessed they were cats going on about their business. It seemed that WaterClan had been busy patrolling the bay's shores.

Turning towards Ashfeather, Goldwing mewed, "So you haven't seen your father in around a few moons. You must be excited to see him again!"

"I know I should be excited. But at the moment, I feel like I'm gonna hack a furball," Ashfeather groaned, looking sick as his belly gurgled. "A _really_ messy furball."

"Hey, don't be nervous!" Goldwing purred reassuringly, laying a reassuring paw on his friend's broad shoulder. "I bet he'll be excited to see you too!"

This made Ashfeather turn towards him with a smile on his face. Reassuring him must have made him cheer up after the long ride to Iguana Bay. Goldwing felt that it was always good to cheer another cat up after a long ride on an Asian Lung dragon.

Finally, Ashfeather spoke up, "What about you, buddy? You nervous about seeing this mandrill guru you read about?"

Goldwing shook his head. "Hell no! I'm more than ready to master the Avatar Cat State! And I'll do whatever it takes. I'll see you when this quarter-moon's over."

He watched as Ashfeather leapt off of Archie's back and landed on the ground, looking up at the golden Avatar Cat. Goldwing knew it would be around a quarter-moon until all of AvatarClan would reunite, but he also felt slightly worried. Ashfeather was returning to his Clan; that meant he would have duties that kept him too busy.

_Don't be stupid! _he muttered to himself. _Warriors have to watch over their Clan sometimes!_

Giving a loud "Yip yip!", Goldwing felt Archie launched off the cliff into the air.

**(Author's Note: Just like before, it's gonna switch POVs like this.)**

Watching his friend fly away, Ashfeather looked out over the camp below and began thinking. He was finally going to see his father, the cat he and his sister had missed for moons, ever since they were apprentices. But Ashfeather also felt worried; what would Emberstar say if he saw that his daughter wasn't there as well as his son?

However, the dark gray tabby tom shook his head, dislodging that thought from his head. He would understand. So he let out a resigned sigh before heading off for it.

When he arrived, Ashfeather began nervously walking into the camp, looking around for any familiar faces. There were WaterClan warriors who were engaged in various activities, like play-fighting, fishing, or pushing small boulders around. Ashfeather felt like he had just walked into StarClan with nothing but warriors looking out for one another. That, and some fish wouldn't hurt to be eaten!

Suddenly, the warrior cats turned around to look at Ashfeather with a startled look. The younger warrior was diverted in the middle of the camp by a tall dark gray-&-white cat. They regarded each other for a moment, staring each other down and circling around each other, and then they nodded in greeting, broad smiles on their faces. The other cats gathered around them, laughing with delight.

"Good to see you here with us, Ashpaw," the dark gray-&-white tom meowed, his voice deep. "Or what's your warrior name now?"

"It's Ashfeather, Shellclaw," the younger warrior purred. "So where's Emberstar?"

"He's in one of the tents around here," Shellclaw replied.

Another gray cat rubbed the top of Ashfeather's head in a friendly fashion, scrunching him down like a small kit. Ashfeather straightened himself up to show his height with a grin. The gray cat compared their stature by standing nose to nose, and he looked amazed to see him nearly as tall as he was (also to Ashfeather's wonder).

The warriors led Ashfeather to the back of the camp and stood aside to reveal the tent at the head of the camp, which bore the symbol of WaterClan. Knowing who could be in there, Ashfeather padded toward the command tent, his eyes filled with emotion and his heart rising in his chest. He pushed apart the flaps of the tent to reveal a group of senior warriors sitting around a chart of the world. At the end of the tent was his father, Emberstar, studying the map.

As the flaps closed behind him, Ashfeather could feel his hesitancy change into joy as he felt himself smile. A gray tabby warrior bearing scars on his side and chest was sitting just next to Emberstar, returning Ashfeather's smile. Emberstar was brooding over the map, frowning in meditation until the gray tabby cat nudged him with his muzzle. The dark gray tom finally looked up, looking shocked and overjoyed to see his son.

"Ashpaw?" Emberstar purred, his different-colored eyes shining with joy.

"Hi, Dad," Ashfeather purred back, his voice thick with emotion. He had done it. He had finally found his long-lost father.

The southern WaterClan leader rose up to his paws and crossed the tent, and father and son embraced at last. Ashfeather rested his head on his father's shoulder with a blissful look of happiness and joy in his heart. Father and son were reunited.

His mission was done.

**...**

The gray-&-white leader was seated on his golden throne. Beside him, his platypus bear rested its chin on one of the throne's arms, moaning as it rubbed its chin against the arm. Frostfire, Rose, and Aya were crouching at the foot of the dais, still disguised as the island-guards of the Tribe.

Frostfire felt disgusted on the inside of how soft of a leader Cavestar was. If it was up to her, she would overthrow him and bring out her own brand of ruling into BoulderClan. But with her friends by her side, it would make things much more interesting.

"Look, Yogi!" Cavestar mewed, pointing a paw at Frostfire and her friends and rubbing his pet's head with the other paw. "The island guards of the Tribe of Heavy Roses are here to protect us! Aren't you happy to see them?"

The platypus bear just yawned in reply. Frostfire snorted softly to herself, sneering, _What a pathetic pair they make. Those cowardly shits will meet their end soon._

But she stopped thinking as Cavestar went on in a serious tone, "It's been a difficult week for me. My most trusted advisor and deputy, Longfang, and his Tai Kwan agents tried to take control of BoulderClan away from me."

"It's a shame when you can't trust cats closest to you," Frostfire simpered smoothly. Her friends nodded in agreement.

"But there is some good news," Cavestar meowed as he stroked his platypus bear's head. "Even as we speak, the Congress of Five is meeting to plan an invasion of FireClan this greenleaf. On the day of a solar eclipse."

Frostfire's golden eyes widened slightly at those last words. She thought, _What? Our Clan, our own dominant Clan, is going to be invaded? All because of an eclipse? This should not happen!_

So she let the pupils on her eyes thin out and feigned shared enthusiasm as she purred, "Really? Well...that sounds like a marvelous and interesting plan."

But she shared a somewhat worried glance with her Rose and Aya, who just shrugged back. This could really not be happening to her Clan, she could hear her mind howling. If nothing was done and no action was taken, the last two Clans would overrun FireClan to the ground and make it extinct like AirClan.

But she would not let that happen. She would make sure EarthClan would pay for their attack against FireClan.

**...**

Silverheart and Tobias had gotten up early to go over to the headquarters or BoulderClan. She was eager to help the deputy of the Clan plan out the invasion, which, to her, was considered a great honor. Looking back over her shoulder, she hoped that her brother and their friends would be okay in their own paths. It was just for a quarter-moon before they would reunite, but she missed them already.

Anyways, Silverheart made it to the top floor, an enormous open chamber serving as the war room. The center of the ornate room was dominated by a map of the known world, perhaps sixty tail-lengths to a side. Silverheart sat down at the raised frame of the map, Tobias perched on her shoulder. The Congress of Five were seated at a long table overlooking it.

Paleblaze, the pale ginger deputy of the Clan, started to speak, pointing a paw at colored stone markers representing military units. He meowed, "The services Birchbark has will serve as the launching point of the attack. In exactly two moons, the Army and Navy will invade FireClan on The Day of Dark Sun."

Silverheart felt a scowl spread across her face as she heard the name Birchbark. That was the same crazy cat who had tried to force Goldwing into the Avatar Cat State two moons ago. Not only that, but he had tried to suffocate her to get Goldwing into the Avatar Cat State. She had hoped to never see him ever again, as did the other agree to that, but there was no arguing there. She had to respect the warriors before her.

Paleblaze used EarthBending to move three earth unit pointers across the sea to the FireClan capitol, where a red pointer stood. Tobias suddenly flew off of Silverheart's shoulder and leapt onto the FireClan maker, scattering the other pieces. The silver she-cat felt amused at what the red-tailed hawk was doing.

"Or we can send Tobias in to do some damage!" Silverheart purred as Tobias continued to hop around the map, scattering more pieces. As she laughed, she purred, "You know...because he can..."

But the Congress of Five did not look amused.

Noticing their looks, Silverheart lowered her head and muttered, "Sorry."

With a gesture of his tail, Paleblaze snapped the pieces straight up. The startled Tobias cawed with shock and flew off the map to perch on Silverheart's shoulder once more. Then Paleblaze placed a scroll on a section of the map frame, which he Bended across the map to Silverheart.

"All we need is Cavestar's seal in order to execute the plan," the pale ginger tom told her. "Make sure you get it to him."

"I'll get it to him right away," Silverheart replied, taking the scroll into her mouth. "Thank you, Paleblaze."

She rearranged the scroll until it fit well in her mouth, dipped her head towards the deputy, and raced out of the room. As she raced down the steps, she could imagine the two remaining Clans and Goldwing facing off against FireClan. FireClan would be defeated, and Goldwing would save the world as a true Avatar Cat of the Clans.

Her heart thudded suddenly whenever she thought of the young golden cat. Silverheart knew he had grown a bit ever since she had freed him from the White Stone, from a goofy apprentice to a mildly goofy yet loyal warrior. But she shook her head, not wanting to think about that right away.

Cavestar needed to get that scroll.

**...**

Archie flew from the direction of the setting sun, past mist shrouded mountain peaks. From his seat on Archie, Goldwing looked about in wonder, and perhaps nostalgia. He remembered going here to get his first dragon as his animal guide, but that was before he knew he was the Avatar Cat. Goldwing could recall even sharing a chicken with his friend, purring and rumbling together as they bonded some more.

Ahead, he could see the three mountain spires of the eastern AirClan camp, linked by bridges. Goldwing looked ahead as Archie soared closer to the temple, and he could see a figure seated in the lotus position upon a round dais. Spreading out his feet, Archie closed in for a landing at its base. Sitting on Archie's large shaggy head, Goldwing looked up towards the figure.

It was indeed a mandrill. He was a skinny gray animal with a semi-short snout with a colorful face of red, blue, and yellow, feet that looked rather flat and bare, a short tail, and a staff by his side. He even had a thin white beard encircling his chin and cheeks. _This must be Guru Rafiki, _Goldwing guessed.

"Um...greetings," he called uncertainly to the mandrill. As he opened his brown eyes, Goldwing leapt down and raced up the stairs, meowing, "Are you Guru Rafiki? The being who tied the message to Archie's horn?"

"Indeed. I am who you seek," Rafiki replied, chuckling. "I am nothing more than a spiritual brother to your Clanmates. I was even a personal friend to your mentor Goldenstripe."

Goldwing's ears stood up as he heard his old mentor's name. This strange creature once knew Goldenstripe, a mandrill being friends with an elderly cat? But Goldwing supposed that things like that could happen often; it had happened in the time of the Twolegs before.

So the golden cat sat in front of Rafiki and meowed, "In your note, you said you could teach me to gain control of the Avatar Cat State. How can you do that?"

Rafiki replied calmly, "You must gain balance deep within yourself before you can bring balance to the world. Remember: the journey to gaining balance begins with the first step. And the first step begins with this," he added, tossing Goldwing a half of a gourd with a yellow liquid in it. "Now drink up!"

Goldwing stared down at the bowl with confusion. He thought it smelled strongly like onions, but there was something else that hit his glands in his nostrils. The golden warrior couldn't tell what it was, but whatever the case, he knew he had to drink it.

But the moment his tongue touched the juice and lapped it up, Goldwing felt a stinking taste taint his taste buds. He quickly spat it out in the other direction and looked back at Rafiki as if he was crazy.

"Ugh! This tastes more like pickles and pineapples!" Goldwing spat.

"That's because it is," Rafiki replied, smiling as he took a sip from his gourd half. Then, as he finished, he put the gourd on his head like a hat, adding, "Yum yum!"

Goldwing just stared at the mandrill guru in stunned disbelief. Learning from Rafiki about the Avatar Cat State would be much harder than he thought.

**...**

**(Author's Note: This section will contain quite some swearing. So be prepared!)**

Nightpaw tried in vain to scent where she was being carried to. Badgerclaw and Master Yu had picked up the trap she was in and carried her and the trap out of the house to a horse-drawn cart. The letter she had received from her mother...it was all a lie. She believed that her mother did not send her the letter or even wrote it herself. Even though she was a bit overprotective, she would not want for her kit to be captured.

_These two fox-hearts must have written it themselves!_

By the bumps she was feeling, she could tell they were at the rocky forested lands of EarthClan. Nightpaw could hear the horse-drawn wagon come to a fork in the road and continue on the main left branch. She could tell that Badgerclaw was driving the wagon, Master Yu riding beside him. They had the large metal box chained and loaded in the back.

"I insist we should take the left road!" Master Yu was saying insistently.

"Are you crazy?" Badgerclaw's hostile mew growled. "The Bei Fong mansion is THAT way!"

Master Yu began to snort, "I believe you are mistaken, my good sir."

"Hey!" Nightpaw yowled, banging the metal walls with her forepaws. "Will you two old badgers quit bitching already? I gotta go to a latrine!"

"Oh," Yu mewed, sounding uncertain. "Well, all right then. But make it quick."

The rustling of keys told Nightpaw (who was kneading the metal floor with her paws) that he was going to let her out. But Badgerclaw spat, "No! What the hell is the matter with you, you mouse-brain?"

Yu seemed to have taken the message, for he called to Nightpaw, "Oh, that was sneaky, young Lin! The wildcats must have taught you their tricks! Nice try, but you can't fool me one bit!" Shuffling noises told Nightpaw that he had sat back now, not bothering to let her loose.

Growling in pure rage, Nightpaw slammed her forepaws on the walls and howled, "Let me outta here so I can kick your asses!"

"Quit banging, you little brat!" Badgerclaw snarled, banging the wall one with a backhand paw. "You might think you're the greatest EarthBender in the Clans, but even _you _can't Bend metal!"

At this, he got back to the reins and made the horse go faster.

Nightpaw growled under her breath and rested her forehead against the door. It was true; she hadn't Bended metal before. She felt like breaking down and crying, but she went against that idea right away, for she was tough. The black cat would not bow down and cry while she would be brought back to her overprotective parents. Instead, she would fight back.

_And I think I know how!_

Taking a deep breath, she rose to her hind legs and rested one forepaw onto the wall in front of her. She unsheathed the claws on her free paw and planted them into the wall, thinking hard and trying to focus on Bending the wall.

**...**

_I think I got a new plan, _Frostfire thought to herself as she paced back and forth. Her claws itched for action, and her ears twitched as she thought her plans out thoroughly.

She and her two friends were staying at a small building in the upper ring at night. Inside the building, a smiling Aya was looking in a mirror at her reflection. She was licking her forepaw and wiping the last traces of her Tribe cat makeup from her face. Rose was seated nearby, still working on her own face.

Frostfire paced the floor behind them and hissed, "Well, ladies, we have been presented with an amazing golden opportunity."

"Does that mean Rose can stop wearing makeup that isn't gloomy?" Aya mewed in a teasing tone.

Rose glared at her, white spots decorating the rims of her eyes, as she muttered in a deadpan tone, "Ha ha."

"Not exactly," Frostfire told Aya, answering her earlier question as she leaped onto a windowsill. "I'm talking about taking over all of EarthClan. It shall all be ours!" Ignoring the shocked looks on her friends' faces, she went on, "For fourteen years, FireClan has nailed away at BoulderClan from the outside, yet unable to get to the inside. But now...we are on the inside, and we can take it by ourselves."

Aya looked over at the black-furred FireClan deputy with awe. "Wow, Frostfire! You sound so confident! That's why I'm happy to call you a friend!"

Rose didn't say anything.

Frostfire went on, "From the inside, we are now in the perfect position to form a rebellion and overthrow the leader of EarthClan. The key to the rebellion is the Tai Kwan." Turning on the spot, she let a wicked smile spread across her face as she added, "Whoever is in control over the Tai Kwan is in control over BoulderClan."

_And _I _shall be in control over BoulderClan. All shall bow before FireClan._

**...**

Night had just fallen over the land, stars glittering in the inky black sky like little fireflies. Night predators such as owls were out on their nightly hunt while deer came out from under the trees, browsing the ground for any fallen food. Crickets were chirping, and gentle whooshing sounds told Goldwing that the wind was gently blowing into his face. It was clearly a good night for him and Rafiki to begin their training.

The golden Avatar Cat followed the mandrill guru down into a deep rocky crevasse somewhere near the eastern AirClan camp. Goldwing and Rafiki stopped at a stream that twisted through the rocks at the base of the gulch. Across from them, there was a fence holding a small herd of wild horses whinnying and pawing the ground with their large stone-like hooves.

Rafiki looked over at the horses, his staff in one hand, as he told Goldwing, "You must open all the chakras in order to master the Avatar Cat State. Now...tell me what you know about chakras."

"...what are chakras?" Goldwing asked tiredly, letting out a big yawn.

"Hmmm...I see," Rafiki replied in a disappointed tone. "Now let's start with the basics." The old mandrill turned to a murky pool where the creek water had gathered and began to speak.

"The water flows through this creek much like the energy flows through your body." He stirred the pool with his staff and went on, "As you see, there are several little pools where the water swirls around before flowing on. These pools are like our charkas."

Goldwing tilted his head to one side. "So chakras are little swirling pools." Turning towards the horses, he added, "And the horses are like that too?"

Rafiki nodded happily. "Precisely! If nothing else were around, this stream would flow pure and clear, and the herd of horses would gallop as free as the wind. However, life can be messy, and things may fall in the stream. And in the horses' case, there may be an obstacle in the way. Then what happens?"

"Then the stream won't flow? And the horses stop?" Goldwing guessed.

"Yes," Rafiki praised him, nodding again.

Then he cleared some moss clogging the water with his staff and pushed it to the side. The water poured quickly into the next pool, and soon, all of them were running clean and clear. Rafiki pole-jumped over the stream with ease and unlocked the lock on the horses' gate, letting loose the herd, which stampeded over to their grazing grounds under the shade of the rock.

Rafiki leaped back to Goldwing and went on, "But if we open the paths between the pools and the wide open space..."

Goldwing answered excitedly, "Then the stream flows! And the horses run free!"

The mandrill nodded, a pleased smile on his face. Goldwing felt pride rise up in his chest as he kneaded the ground with his paws in anticipation. Earlier, he felt that learning how to control the Avatar Cat State was going to be difficult. But he now knew that there were layers of levels on how to control it, levels called chakras.

Looking up in time, he could see Rafiki climbing up the pile of stones he used to get to the small stream. Goldwing padded after the guru, leaping easily up the stones while Rafiki took his time in climbing.

**...**

Goldwing and Rafiki had arrived at a dark and misty cavern beneath the temple. Deep inside the cavern, where there were only a few holes in the ceiling, Goldwing sat down with his tail around his paws while Rafiki sat in the lotus position. Only the sounds of water crystals dripping down into small pools and crickets were chirping.

Rafiki began to speak, "There are seven chakras that go up the body. Each pool of energy has a purpose and can be blocked by a certain kind of emotive muck. Be warned: opening the chakras is a powerful experience, and once you begin, you cannot stop until all seven chakras are open. Are you ready?"

At this, Goldwing looked down to the ground. He wondered if he really was up to it, that he could use it to defeat FireClan. But, with a burning shame, he was reminded of how he had tried to hurry through FireBending, and he didn't want that to happen again. However, this was very important.

"I'll do whatever it takes," he meowed as he looked up at Rafiki. He had used those exact same words to Ashfeather earlier.

"Good," Rafiki said with a smile. Then he began to speak, the cave walls catching his echoing voice, "We will first open the Wind Chakra, located at the base of the backbone. It deals with endurance and is blocked by fear. What are you most afraid of? Let your fears become clear to you."

Goldwing nodded and closed his gray eyes, breathing quietly. But the moment he did just that, terrible images began flooding into his mind.

Memories of his past travels caught up to him in a red hazy background. The first image he could see in his mind was the Red Demon planting a paw on his throat, claws extended. Another he saw was Silverheart sinking deep into the ground, Goldwing rushing after her with his paws out before going into the Avatar Cat State. Several more included the Shadow Meteor, Goldwing and the Ocean spirit smashing Thornflare's navy, and Darkstar himself.

Grimacing with concentration, Goldwing opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by flames, the menacing form of Darkstar looming behind them. A dark black aura surrounded him among the flames, and his red eyes were filled with nothing but evil. It was just like seeing the Devil himself.

"_MMMRRROOOWWW!"_

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

Goldwing closed his eyes, unable to wish to look at this demon anymore. But just as he looked away from this horror, he could hear Rafiki's voice call out to him.

"Goldwing, this vision is false. You are concerned for your survival, but you must surrender those fears. Let your fears flow down the stream."

As he found himself in the real world, still cringing, Goldwing began to try and concentrate. He soon found himself surrounded by stars as he found himself at the ancient Fourtrees once again. The young golden Avatar Cat could feel the warm embrace of StarClan around him and the joy in having company around him. The fears he had felt were slowly starting to fade away until his mind was clear.

The next thing he knew, he was now sitting calmly within the ring of flame, facing Darkstar. The flames swirled around the FireClan leader, and then they both vanished. Finally feeling relaxed, he let out a big sigh and opened his gray eyes. Goldwing looked up to see Rafiki smiling at him in approval and nodding his head.

"Well done, young feline," the old baboon praised him. "You have unlocked your first Chakra."

"Thank you," Goldwing replied, purring as he dipped his head to the guru in thanks.

**...**

Mentor and apprentice had gone up to where the waterfall was. It was a large falling fountain of water pouring down from a cliff and crashing down into the stream below. The horses had gone over to drink some of the cool liquid while frogs flicked their tongues out at flies and dragged them into their hollow mouths.

Anyways, Goldwing and Rafiki were now seated behind the waterfall, in a cave that seemed to fit a bear. Rafiki was facing Goldwing, who was sitting with his back turned towards the wall of water.

"Next, the second chakra is..." Rafiki began, holding up a finger.

"River Chakra?" Goldwing guessed. He supposed that some chakras would be named after the four ancient Clans.

Rafiki chuckled. "Correct! Who knows? Maybe you may be a good guru as well!" His voice got serious as he went on, "The River Chakra is located in the pelvis, it deals with pleasure, and it is blocked by guilt. Now look at all the guilt which burdens you so. What do you blame yourself for?"

Goldwing looked down at his paws, trying to remember what he felt guilty about. Then some more memories filled his mind, and most of them were not good at all. He remembered, fourteen years ago, when he had fled from his home due to being separated from his mentor. And he even remembered attacking Birchbark and his warriors as they tried to force him into the Avatar Cat State too early.

But he didn't want to bring up the part when he hid the map from Silverheart and Ashfeather. He and Ashfeather shared the blame together.

"I-I ran away from home," Goldwing began, closing his eyes to concentrate. Sadly, he mewed, "And...I hurt all those cats in EarthClan. I wasn't even supposed to hurt them."

"My young feline friend, Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy," Rafiki explained. "If you are to be a positive influence on the world of the Clans, you need to learn to forgive yourself. Remember, it's all in the past."

_All right then, here we go, _Goldwing thought to himself. He closed his eyes even more, wrapping his tail around his forepaws even more. The Avatar Cat took a deep breath and exhaled, doing his best to relax his body.

As he opened his eyes a bit, he saw Rafiki nod to him with approval. But all of a sudden, the old mandrill took his staff into his hands and bonked the top of Goldwing's head with the front part.

"Ow! What the hell was that?" Goldwing snarled, wincing at the pain.

"It doesn't matter. It's in the past!" Rafiki cackled.

"Yeah, but it still hurts," Goldwing muttered, rubbing his head with his paw. But that didn't matter for right now. He had passed the second chakra, the River Chakra.

**(Author's Note: Don't you all **_**love**_** Lion King references?)**

**...**

The warriors swarming around Ashfeather began scattering around in the camp, getting ready for moving out. Ashfeather was called forward by Emberstar to help him out with something while Volefoot, Emberstar's friend and deputy, worked nearby. Right now, Ashfeather and his father were busy working on bombs.

While they had worked hard, Ashfeather had told Emberstar about the adventures he and his friends had gotten into. As he told him about him being mates with Echo In Quiet Storm, he had been afraid that Emberstar would scold him for taking a mate from a different area. But however, his father was proud of him for choosing his future; besides, in the four new Clans, the Warrior Code had become a bit lax.

"This bay leads directly to the border of BoulderClan," Emberstar told his son. "We've been using these tangle mines to stop the FireClan ships from getting through."

He flicked his tail over his shoulders to his warriors. They were all busy assembling spherical devices and loading them onto their ships.

"Emberstar even invented tangle mines himself," Volefoot added proudly, his blue-gray fur quivering with pride in his friend. At this, he began pouring liquid into the cap of the spherical mine with careful ease.

Ashfeather observed it with an interested manner; he had inherited his father's love for science. "Hmmm...destructive, buoyant, and..." He took a deep sniff and recoiled at the stench, his nose curling. "Ugh! And it smells bad!"

Emberstar purred. "Very sharp there, son. The mines are filled with skunk fumes and seaweed." He attached the plug onto the cap and clipped the sealant from the edges. "When a ship explodes, the seaweed tangles up the propeller, and the foul stench forces cats to leave the ship. I call it the stink' n' sink bomb."

"Ha ha ha! That's a good one, Dad!" Ashfeather laughed, wiping a tear from his eye.

Volefoot rolled his green eyes at that. "You really ARE your father's son."

But suddenly, a light gray tom rushed forward, the other warriors assembling, and called to his leader, "Emberstar! Some of our scouts have spotted four FireClan ships."

"All right then. Thank you." Emberstar raised his head to yowl, "FireClan ships are arriving, and we need to meet them head on! Volefoot, get these mines loaded up, and take a warrior or two to help you out. The rest of you warriors, prepare for battle!"

All the warriors cheered and darted off in several directions. Well...almost everyone. Ashfeather gazed at his father as if he was made of smoke and not from flesh and bone. He didn't know what to do if the other warriors were out there fighting.

So he turned to his leader and asked, "What should I do?"

Emberstar turned to face his son. "Weren't you listening? I said the rest of you warriors prepare for battle. Now hurry."

Ashfeather gazed at him in shock and amazement. His father had just called him a warrior, his own father putting the trust of his Clanmates in him. Slowly rising to his paws, the young dark gray warrior smiled, nodded to Emberstar, and ran off after the other warriors. His claws were sharpened and his mind was now wily and ready for a fight.

Even though he couldn't see for now, Ashfeather was sure his father was watching him run after the warriors. His eyes, two different shades of blue, were filled with pride for him.

**...**

Bearclaw sighed deeply as he happily breathed in the clean air. He and his uncle Irontail were at an impressive cream shop in the upper ring of BoulderClan. There were short stairs leading up to it past a bubbling fountain. Inside the luxurious building, the two former FireClan cats stood side by side, overseeing the operation.

His heart thudding with pride for his uncle, Bearclaw had never felt this happy in moons. At first, he had thought that being banished would bring him nothing but trouble, especially in not getting his father's affection. But Irontail had been right before: there was nothing wrong with a feeling of prosperity and humility.

"Who would've thought that, when we came to this city as refugees, I'd end up owning my own cream shop?" Irontail purred, his gray tabby fur quivering with joy. "Follow your life's passion, Bearclaw, and life will reward you."

"Congratulations, uncle Irontail," Bearclaw purred, feeling warm from hearing another of his uncle's proverbs.

Irontail purred back. "Thank you, my nephew."

Bearclaw turned to smile at Irontail as he meowed positively, "Well, you deserve it. The Emerald Griffin will be the best cream shop in the entire city!"

"It's not that, though that was a very nice thing to say," Irontail purred. "I'm thankful because you decided to share this special day with me. It means more than you know."

He finished this speech by laying his tail on Bearclaw's broad shoulder. The young dark tabby tom replied by giving him a warm hug, to his surprise. This was indeed a special day for the two to celebrate together.

After the hug, Bearclaw broke away from his uncle and meowed, "Now come on. Let's go make some cream for everyone!"

"Yes! Let's go make some cream!" Irontail added in joy, following Bearclaw to the kitchens.

**...**

The sun was slowly rising over the mountains as a morning fog settled over the eastern AirClan camp. The night animals had gone back into hiding for the day, waiting until nightfall arrived. Dewdrops sparkled on the grass and cobwebs like sparkly crystals while blossom petals swirled gently around in the air. Even the horse herd had dashed from the crevice to revel in the sunlight on their hides, pronghorn grazing beside them.

Goldwing and Rafiki had rested for the night before going on to their next lesson. They were now sitting side by side on a narrow ledge above the mists. Goldwing tried his best to see Rafiki through the fog, pawing at wisps of loose air before him.

"The third chakra is the Shadow Chakra. It is located in the belly," Rafiki began explaining.

Speaking of in the belly, Goldwing felt his own gurgle; he hadn't eaten a lot of stuff besides the juice he was supposed to drink. "To tell you the truth, _my_ Shadow chakra wants to eat something besides pickle and pineapple juice."

Rafiki chuckled. "Heh-heh. That's a good one." Seriously, he went on, "Now we move on. This chakra deals with drive, but it is blocked by shame. What are you ashamed of? What are your biggest regrets for yourself?"

Goldwing sighed and closed his eyes, trying to focus. Inside his mind, the Avatar Cat could see the horrifying memory of using FireBending. As he had played with FireBending, the flames burst forward and attacked Silverheart, slicing her throat and burning the hairs off her paws. The memory of hearing her sobbing in pain and agony was too much for him to bear.

_No...I can't...I won't FireBend ever again! Never!_

"I-I can't," Goldwing sighed, opening his eyes and looking down at his paws. "I told myself I won't FireBend ever again, and I won't. I-I just can't."

"If you deny this part of your life, you will never find balance," Rafiki reasoned with him softly. "You are the Avatar Cat, and therefore, you are a FireBender. Remember."

Nodding, Goldwing closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened one eye, he saw Rafiki give him a look of suspicion.

Finally, the old mandrill said, "Hmmm...you have unlocked this chakra. But it opened less like a fluid stream or a galloping horse. In fact, it opened more like a...burping dragon!"

Suddenly, feeling a burp rise in his throat, Goldwing opened his jaws and let a loud one out. The taste inside his mouth tasted like a mix of pineapples and pickles...and a bit something more. He licked his lips to try and get the taste, but he couldn't find out what it was.

"Tastes like pickles and pineapples, but it tastes like something else," Goldwing mewed, turning towards Rafiki. "What is it? Onions?"

Rafiki shrugged.

**...**

A pair of Tai Kwan cats silently slid down the back of the two closest pillars at the palace. On their mission to help Longfang, they could see the pale gray Tribe she-cat sitting at the top of the stairs. Nearby, the pale ginger she-cat was doing some stretching exercises by stretching out her long slender forelegs towards one pillar.

"I'm sick of wearing this girlish disguise, Aya," the pale gray she-cat growled in a morose tone. "How the hell can any cat fight in this scent?"

"I think that's why it was so easy to beat the Tribe cats and take their identities," Aya told her.

The Tai Kwan exchanged glances at this speech. These she-cats had ambushed actual Tribe cats? And what was more...they were not Tribe cats at all!

The pale gray she-cat merely growled, "How much longer do we have to serve the leader? If I have to clean up one more pile of platypus bear shit, I'm gonna puke up a hairball. A very BIG hairball."

"Frostfire promised we would go back to FireClan as soon as we captured the Avatar Cat," Aya reasoned with her. "Just be patient, Rose."

"Shut up!" Rose suddenly hissed, sounding anxious as she faced her friend. "You want everyone to know we're FireClan cats?"

Aya mewed an apology while looking ashamed at what she did. However, that was all the Tai Kwan cats needed to tell their fearless leader. There were FireClan cats in the city, thanks to the four brats who overthrew Longfang, and he needed to be informed.

So the Tai Kwan cats sunk their claws into the pillars and began climbing back up to the top. But as they made it to the top, they saw another cat approach the she-cats. It was the red tabby she-cat with the yellow eyes, though this had to be Frostfire.

"Good work," she was praising her two friends. She looked towards the sky and added, "I am sure the Tai Kwan will deliver the message."

**...**

In the late morning, Goldwing and Rafiki had climbed up to a partially destroyed shrine high in the eastern mountains. The teacher and student pair were sitting and facing each other on the floor of the broken building. No animal had bothered them along the way, but that was mainly because there weren't many predators along the way.

Rafiki began, "The fourth chakra is the Thunder chakra, and it is located in the heart. It deals with love, but it is blocked by grief."

Goldwing looked up at the statue of a female AirClan warrior, smiling that his Clan could live on in the Clans. But he decided to make himself somber as he looked back at Rafiki.

"Now...lay all of your grief out before you," the wise old mandrill went on. Nodding, the Avatar Cat closed his eyes in concentration and held a forepaw over his heart.

In his mindscape, he sat surrounded by a thick fog. An emerald light cast everything in a bright shade of green. Opening his eyes to this vision, Goldwing could see Goldenstripe rise from the mist to sit across from him. The golden tabby elder was joined by one AirClan cat after another. Eventually, a vast field of them sat arrayed behind Goldenstripe, even Galestar, the gray-&-cream leader.

Goldwing smiled at them, happy to see his Clanmates in StarClan once again. He could see that one warrior, one named Shrewfur, was not among them; did he do something wrong? If so, then he must have been in the Dark Forest.

But suddenly, one after another, they were enveloped in a whirling cloud. As they disappeared, Goldwing was pulled backwards from the cloud an invisible force. He tried to run after them, screaming in his mind _No! Don't go! _But grief was replaced by joy when he saw his beloved Clan floating above the cloud, and he reached his paw out to them. The cloud enveloped him in a flash and lifted him up.

"Goldwing, you have felt a great loss." Rafiki's voice made Goldwing look up in wonder. "But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. Your Clan's love for you has not left this world. Besides, they live in you and they always lived in you before you came to this time. It is still inside of your heart, and it is reborn in the form of new love."

_New love?_

The golden AirClan warrior looked up to see the clouds forming and the warriors vanishing. The clouds took the form of Silverheart's face, which was replaced by a vision of her and her smile. Her very beautiful smile. How he loved to see her every day, knowing she was always there for him, his best friend and his mentor.

Now Goldwing knew what Rafiki meant how his Clan's love was reborn into new love. He saw that Silverheart was the reborn new love that had become a big part of his life. He had felt some feeling like this when he first laid eyes on her when they apprentices.

_That means...that I've loved Silverheart ever since I first met her!_

"Let the pain flow away," Rafiki's voice said, bringing Goldwing back to the present.

Goldwing nodded, his eyes still closed and tears streaming down them. These were happy tears, in realization that his two loves (his Clan and Silverheart) would always live in him. Smiling to himself, he raised his paw from his heart and wiped the tears away.

When he opened his eyes, Rafiki nodded, saying, "That's right. You have unlocked this chakra."

"Thank you..." Goldwing purred, his voice thick with emotion. Then... "May I have some pickle and pineapple juice?"

Rafiki nodded and gently tossed a bowl of it towards Goldwing. The golden cat lapped some of the juice while ignoring the taste, but that didn't matter at all. This chakra felt him feel so relaxed and happy.

**...**

After the fourth chakra was unlocked, Goldwing and Rafiki climbed a little bit higher up the mountain. It appeared that the chakra system seemed to be based on going up through the long system. Thus, they were going up the mountain in the same way as the chakra system.

When sunhigh came around, teacher and student had arrived at a huge stone statue. It portrayed another female AirClan warrior, sitting with its tail around its paws. Goldwing and Rafiki sat down at the foot of the statue, dwarfed by its enormous mass.

"The fifth chakra in the chain is the Mountain chakra, and it is located in the throat," the old mandrill began to speak. "It deals with the truth, but it is blocked by lies. The ones we would often tell ourselves."

Goldwing suddenly knew what Rafiki meant by that. He remembered when he and his friends were apprentices, after they had defeated Bearclaw for the first time. Then he remembered what Silverheart asked him:

_Why didn't you say you were the Avatar Cat?_

"Because I didn't want to be," Goldwing found himself murmuring. This was the same reply he had given to her.

Rafiki replied gently, "You cannot lie about your own nature. Whatever lies you have told are in the past. You have to accept that you are the Avatar Cat."

Nodding again, Goldwing closed his eyes and began to focus. He could see himself standing on a high cliff, overlooking the world and what went on in there. Goldwing even felt a fierce instinct to attack anything that dared to harm it while he was around. This was as fierce as a queen with a protective attitude over her newborn kits.

He could feel the way his steel-colored eyes scanned the world, the wind buffeting his fur. With a sigh, Goldwing opened his eyes to see Rafiki nodding towards him in approval again.

"_Very _good, Goldwing," the elderly baboon praised him. "You just unlocked the fifth chakra. Only two more to go!"

**...**

It was quite late in the afternoon, for the sky had been turned from sky blue to baby blue with tinges of orange and pink. Once again, Goldwing and Rafiki had stopped to eat a little bit of something along the way. Goldwing had stopped to hunt for a bird due to being at his own Clan territory while Rafiki plucked up an apple from an apple tree and began eating, thinking deeply.

After this snack, teacher and pupil had stopped at a narrow rising stairway high in the mountains, overlooking the misty peaks below. The sun had risen higher in the sky and cast a golden glow over everything. For some odd reason, the sun wasn't even setting all the way like it normally would; it had something to do with time.

"The sixth chakra, this energy pool, is the Sky chakra," Rafiki began talking once they settled down. "It is located at the center of the forehead. It deals with perception, but it is blocked by delusions. The greatest delusion of this world is the delusion of division. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same."

"Like the four warrior Clans?" Goldwing guessed. He had heard stories of the four ancient Clans wanting to stay separate, even the long-lost fifth Clan called SkyClan. And today, even the three remaining Clans are like this.

Rafiki replied, "Yes. We are all one Clan in the Circle of Life, but we live as if we are divided. We are one."

Goldwing looked around at him, trying to recall when he had heard it last time. Then he recalled the time he and his friends were trapped in a mangrove swamp, and a swamp-living rogue by the name of Cajun had taught him an important lesson.

"_If you stand still and listen hard enough, you can hear every creature living together. And you can feel everything growin' together. We're all livin' as one, even if most critters don't act like that. Every cat has the same roots, and we're all just branches of the same tree."_

_It's just like the Clans!_

"We're all connected," he finally mewed. "Everything is connected!"

"That's right," Rafiki replied, tapping his staff on the ground in consent. "Even the separation of the four elements is an illusion. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one. Four parts of the same whole. Example, even metal is just a part of Earth; it has become purified and refined."

Goldwing nodded, understanding this.

**...**

Nightpaw stood as still as a stone, focusing on the metal prison surrounding her. She had never done this before in her life, but it was either now or never. This was the first time ever that she would have to MetalBend, as she told herself repeatedly.

_It's metal, right? You know, another form of earth, _she told herself. She nodded her head and added to herself, _Yeah, it is._

In a calm stance and mind, she started to repeatedly hit the metal walls with her claws, sending out ripples of vibrations. Striking ahead, the vibrations revealed shimmering impurities within the walls, which she felt under her pads. Nightpaw smiled to herself and breathed deeply. She stomped one of her back paws and struck the wall with her claws once more, ignoring the scent of blood on her paws.

"Come on, damn it! Budge!" the black cat hissed as she strained hard from the pressure.

Finally, she extended her claws out fully, swiping them hard at the spot where she was clawing at. To her amazement, when she did so, some of the thick metal fell away when she scooped some out, pieces falling to the floor of the prison. Nightpaw stepped back a bit, shocked at this achievement as she licked her bleeding claws.

"Whoo! That was tough!" she exclaimed. Then, smirking a bit to herself, she added, "Nightpaw, you are one cool cat!"

Now more confident than ever, she rose to her hind legs and clawed at the metal wall again.

**...**

Silverheart sniff the air and breathed deeply; it smelled like fresh cream being made. Tracking the smell, she padded over to where many cats were gathering at. She had heard of a new cream shop called the Emerald Griffin opening just today, and she wanted to find it out herself.

Tobias was riding on her back when she turned her head to ask, "So what do you think, Tobias? How about a bowl of cream before we get back to Cavestar?"

The red-tailed hawk cawed, which seemed to be a yes.

So Silverheart and Tobias entered the building, mewing "Table for two" to the money collector before padding inside. But as she searched for a seat, she heard two very familiar voices call to each other cheerfully:

"Uncle! I need four bowls of cream! Two Dutch, one Swedish, and one with blueberries!"

"I'm brewing as fast as I can!"

Quickly, Silverheart turned to see who was speaking like that. Then she saw them: a dark brown tabby tom with a burn scar in a waiter's outfit and a fat gray tabby tom with a flat face working behind the counter. The silver she-cat gasped when she recognized those two cats.

_Bearclaw and Irontail! What the hell are they doing here?_

_That doesn't matter! _she scolded herself. _We have to tell Cavestar!_

So Silverheart turned on the spot and ran out of the cream shop, Tobias behind her and flapping his wings. The WaterClan warrior ran down the steps as fast as she could, turning about to the side towards Cavestar's palace. Above her, the sun was slowly setting, turning Tobias' feathers to russet as he flew after her.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"So this is the last chakra, right?"

Goldwing and Rafiki had arrived at the tallest spire of the eastern AirClan camp. The skies had darkened over the misty mountains far below this towering flat-topped tower. Teacher and pupil were once more seated across from each other on top of the tower. The sky above the two was filled with bright stars, twinkling like diamonds.

_StarClan must be watching over us tonight._

"Yes," Rafiki replied, answering Goldwing's question. "Once you open this chakra, you will be able go in and out of the Avatar Cat State at will. And when you _are_ in the Avatar Cat State, you will have complete control and alertness of all your actions. Are you ready?"

Goldwing thought this over for a moment. This was a good chance to learn about it in order to defeat Darkstar. So confidently, he purred, "Let's do it!"

Rafiki nodded. "Now the seventh and final chakra is the Star chakra. It is located at the crown of the head, meaning it rests on the top of your head. It deals with pure spiritual energy, but it is blocked by earthly desires. Meditate on what attaches you to the world below StarClan and in the Circle of Life."

Goldwing nodded and closed his eyes, trying hard to think. But then, memories flooded his mind again, faster than what had happened six chakras ago.

He could see Silverheart performing her Bending skills with grace and agility. Then he could see her leaning against a tree, looking beautiful under the shining sunlight, her silver fur glowing a white glow. Her smile, modest and friendly, had made Goldwing blush a lot more. He could even see her blue eyes glow amber under firelight, back in the Cave of Loved Ones. The two cats were moving bit by bit towards each other, their noses touching.

"Now, let all of those attachments go," Rafiki's voice was telling him. "Let them flow down the river. Forgotten."

_Forgotten? _Startled by those final words, Goldwing's eyes snapped open. Rafiki was telling him to give up on loving Silverheart! _How could he do this? I thought he was helping me!_

Out loud, he mewed in a startled tone, "But...I can't let go of Silverheart! I...I love her!"

Rafiki looked back at Goldwing calmly. "Learn to let her go. If not, then you cannot let the pure spirit energy flow in from the universe."

"Why would I choose pure spirit energy over Silverheart?" Goldwing growled at the old mandrill furiously. "How could it be bad if I feel attracted to her and have an attachment towards her? Just around three chakras ago, you said loving her was a good thing!"

"You _must_ learn to let go." Rafiki's old and breezy voice had become firm when he said this.

But Goldwing still wasn't sure, lowering his eyes in uncertainty. He couldn't give Silverheart up, for if he did, things would not be the same in the world without her. He had always been there for her just as she has been for him, and they had worked together through thick and thin. And now, Rafiki was telling him to give her up.

The golden Avatar Cat looked up towards the moon, hoping to see it being covered by clouds. But the moon was not out that night. So he prayed, _Please, StarClan! What should I do? Can I give up Silverheart? Or not?_

**...**

Silverheart raced down the long halls of Cavestar's palace, message-scroll in her jaws. She still couldn't believe that FireClan cats were in the city; what was worse was that no one had turned them in. But she couldn't help but stop and think about how happy Bearclaw and Irontail looked when they were serving others bowls of cream.

But she couldn't feel guilty now. _I have to tell Cavestar anyways!_

Panting for a gulp of air, she pulled to a stop before Cavestar's throne, where there were three cats before the throne. Silverheart almost gave a yowl of joy; the island guards from the Tribe of Heavy Roses had arrived at last.

"Echo! Thanks StarClan you're here!" the silver warrior gasped, putting the scroll down when she spoke. "FireClan had just slipped through and got into the city! I just saw Bearclaw and his uncle Irontail! We have to find Cavestar and tell him!"

"Oh don't worry about that. He'll hear of this for sure," Echo purred, her yellow eyes glowing as she turned around.

_Yellow? _Silverheart thought with horror, her blue eyes widening. _But Echo's eyes are green! _And by the sound of her voice, which was lower and more sinister, this was definitely NOT Echo.

_Then that's...no! It can't be!_

Instantly, she unsheathed her claws into the ground, Tobias flying off her shoulder and soaring away with a startled caw. Quickly, a pale ginger she-cat) leaped forward as slick as a snake with a series of acrobatic flips, striking Silverheart's shoulder with her claws as she flipped behind her. Silverheart, at the heart of Bending water from her pouch, fell paralyzed to the throne room floor.

The silver WaterClan cat laid helpless in the pool of water, blood mixing with the water as she tried to look up to see her attackers. The three she-cats gathered around her with faces full of satisfaction.

"So...Teddy's in the city, eh?" Frostfire sneered as she planted a paw onto Silverheart's neck, claws unsheathed and piercing the skin. "Looks like we're going to have a nice family reunion."

Unknowingly to the four cats, Tobias had been watching from on top of a pillar. Giving a small caw of terror, he spread out his wings, jumped into the air, and flew off.

**...**

Goldwing, still wanting to not let go of Silverheart, tried just one more time, "I'm sorry, Rafiki, but...I can't let Silverheart go. I just can't!"

"Goldwing, listen," Rafiki replied in a calmer voice. "To master the Avatar Cat State, you must open _all_ the chakras. Surrender yourself."

"But..." Goldwing mewed, trying yet again to argue. But he knew that there was no arguing this time. So he gave a reluctant sigh and mewed, "Fine. I'll do it."

So he closed his eyes and focused his concentration. Inside his mind, he could see mountains beneath a starry sky. The heavens began to spin with great speed, the stars blurring streaks that disappeared behind the mountains. An image of Silverheart appeared and drifted toward the horizon to finally vanish with a twinkle of light. The heavens ceased to whirl around Goldwing, making him stare around in wonder.

"Now, think of your attachments and let them go. Let the pure cosmic energy flow."

Rafiki's voice echoed from nowhere, forcing Goldwing to try and find him. Looking up into the stars, he could see an aurora of light. Goldwing was now floating in space above the planet, and the aurora hardened into a radiant bridge beneath his paws. Turning from the world below, he turned his head around and gasped with pure awe.

A massive entity was sitting above the snaking path, looking down at him. It was a supernatural figure of Goldwing himself, the arrow stripes and eyes shining with the light of the Avatar Cat State.

Goldwing set off carefully towards it, mouth open in awe. As he neared the paws of the hovering apparition, his own arrow stripes began to shine with light. The towering ghostlike Goldwing in front of him descended, a sphere of light shimmering between its foreclaws. The young Avatar Cat became enclosed within this shell, but suddenly, he was distracted by a cry of distress.

"Someone! Help! Get me out of here!"

Tearing his eyes away from the large creature before him, Goldwing could see another vision; what he saw in there filled him with horror. Silverheart was the one who yowled, chained to a wall by the throat and paws spread apart. Bloody scars covered her pelt, and a few tufts of fur from her flank had been torn out.

_SILVERHEART!_

Goldwing leapt from the claws of the apparition, and the sphere of light vanished. Behind him, the great entity faded from sight as he rushed back down the path. It too began to fade rapidly, until it dropped him to plunge yowling toward the world. He tried to yowl for StarClan to help him too, but no one answered.

Finally, as Goldwing woke up from his trance, he mewed, "Silverheart's in danger! I have to go help her!" He turned away from Rafiki and slid down the roof of the tower, preparing to leap off the edge.

"No, Goldwing!" Rafiki suddenly shouted, making the golden tom stop. "By choosing an earthly attachment over cosmic energy, you have failed to unlock the chakra! If you leave now and not finish this, you won't go into the Avatar Cat State at all!"

Goldwing paused at the edge, thinking of what Rafiki had just told him. He was turning his back on what StarClan's messenger guru had told him to do. Was it really worth it to give up having full power instead of a she-cat he loved? Could he really live with it?

_I think I can. I mean, Rafiki might be back to teach me some more._

Making up his mind, the golden cat leaped down the tower, ignoring a weary sigh from the old baboon. When he got to the bottom of the mountain, he met up with Archie, who was chewing on the body of an old dead antelope. Goldwing leapt onto his dragon, his claws sinking into the dragon's fur before they lifted off the ground.

He knew he was doing the wrong thing by leaving StarClan's lessons by rescuing Silverheart. But one of the rules in the Warrior Code said that he had to defend his Clanmates at whatever costs, even at the cost of his life. Even if he was the Avatar Cat, he still wanted to live like a normal cat would and obey the Warrior Code.

_And to save Silverheart. I just hope I'm not too late!_

**...**

By the feeling of the wagon bumping about, Nightpaw could tell that Master Yu and Badgerclaw were travelling on a bumpy road. However, she could not smell anything due to being trapped in a metal trap. She needed to get out of here and get back to BoulderClan to tell Silverheart of what really happened. Her mentor would understand.

Giving one more sigh, she charged at the wall again and sunk her claws into the loose metal before her. Nightpaw felt the metal give away from her charging body as she squeezed through the hole and appeared on the other side. She had used MetalBending to burst out of her prison cell and landed on the ground. She made it.

However, she heard the carriage stop, for the two toms must have heard her escape. So Nightpaw darted underneath a couple of ferns and rolled around in the dirt to disguise her scent.

"Badgerclaw! This is one of her tricks!" Master Yu was wailing.

"There's a giant hole in the metal wall here!" Badgerclaw snapped, sounding infuriated. "How the hell can this be a trick?"

"It's not! It's the real deal!"

_Now it's time for a little payback, _Nightpaw sneered to herself. She slipped out from under the ferns, stood behind them, and let out a battle yowl.

Both toms turned to see the small black cat standing in the road right behind them. With a swift EarthBending move, she squashed them between two chunks of rock. With a backwards flick of her tail, she propelled them both into the prison. Leaping near them, Nightpaw grabbed the edges of the bent metal box with her claws and Bended them together again.

She leapt atop the box and raised her tail high in victory, shouting, "I'm the greatest EarthBender in the entire world! Don't you dumbasses forget it!"

"I'm going to be stuck in here with you, aren't I?" Nightpaw could hear Badgerclaw sigh irately below her.

"I have to go make dirt," Yu mewled pathetically.

Badgerclaw's response was to hit his head repeatedly on the metal wall.

Nightpaw stomped down hard on the metal box and leapt down to the road. The ground beneath her plunged downward in a wide circle, then it surged beneath her and placed her atop a wave of earth. With the running motion of her paws, Nightpaw rode this back up the road at tremendous speed, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

_Here I come, BoulderClan!_

**...**

The moon shone like a large star above Iguana Bay, and the WaterClan warriors were ready for battle. Ashfeather looked up at the moon, hoping to get himself feel strong when he would fight for his Clan. The other warriors around him looked confident and ready, so the young dark gray tabby tom decided to steel up his courage this night.

_I'll make Dad proud! And that's a promise!_

So Ashfeather pulled out a walrus-tusk dagger while he unsheathed his claws. And just when he finished doing that, Emberstar approached him as the other warriors finished loading their ships.

"You ready to kick some FireClan tail, son?" the dark gray tom meowed, sounding amused.

Ashfeather nodded while mewing, "Dad...you have no idea how much this means to me. I'll make you and our Clan proud of me. I'll prove to you what a great warrior I've become."

Emberstar looked him in the eyes with his kind odd-colored ones. "Ashfeather, you don't have to prove anything to me." He placed his tail on his shoulder and meowed reassuringly, "I'm already proud of you, and I've always known you were a great warrior."

"Really?" his son mewed in surprise, looking over at his father.

"Why do you think I trusted you with looking after our camp when I left?" Emberstar purred. He stopped to think before finally saying, "Well...Volefoot told me about how you passed your own 'Rock Dodging' rite of passage. I was really happy for you and your sister. But when I heard about you yelling at your friend for hiding my map, I was kinda disappointed in you."

Ashfeather's face fell.

However, Emberstar added, "But when I heard of how you and Silverheart decided to go on with journeying with him, I felt proud of you for doing the right thing. In fact, if you had wanted to, you could bring him over here anytime you'd like. He's family to us. But what's more important is that you and your sister have already made me very proud of you."

"Thank you, D-Dad," the young warrior mewed, letting his father embrace him. The warriors around them looked at them with compassion and comradeship in their different blue eyes.

The two dark gray cats padded over to the other warriors, preparing to board onto the ship. But just climbing the ramp to embark, they heard a familiar rumbling grunt. Ashfeather knew that grunt anywhere; it was Archie's rumbling grunt.

Ashfeather turned around on the spot to see Archie land down at the foot of the ramp. Goldwing was on top of his head, turning to the WaterClan warrior with a worried expression on his face.

"Oh shit. This can't be good," Ashfeather mewed, understanding what had happened. Something must have happened so that AvatarClan could reunite.

He felt conflict claw at his heart when he had to choose: either go with Goldwing and miss out joining his Clan in battle, or stay and forget that trouble. But Ashfeather knew what that answer would be, for he would trust Goldwing with his life.

So he climbed onto Archie's saddle as the dragon flew away from Iguana Bay. Looking back, Ashfeather looked back as his father's ships headed out of the bay toward open waters. From the deck of his flagship, Emberstar was looking back and smiling toward his son. The look on his face told Ashfeather that he was still proud of what he was going to do.

**...**

Frostfire lashed out a forepaw as the gray tabby Tai Kwan cat grabbed her by the scruff, pulling her back. The black-&-white cat beside her lashed his claws out at her and swiped them across the disguised red tabby's nose, pain stinging her skin. When Frostfire tried to lash out her claws once again, the gray tabby cat squeezed her forepaws together to keep her from running off.

The FireClan deputy had been caught using FireBending on a rabbit that tried to get away from her claws. The Tai Kwan had leaped at her with lightning speed and swift cunning, she had to admit to herself. But her plan to carry out taking over BoulderClan seemed to have come to an end. Darkstar would not be proud of her and praise Bearclaw instead of her; she would not let that happen.

Anyways, she was brought down to a prison, the walls and cell doors clad in steel. It looked very dark and gloomy; she would use this anytime she wished to any of her prisoners. Inside one of the cells, there sat a red-brown tom with a black mane like a lion and yellow-green eyes. When she and the Tai Kwan arrived into his cell, the strange tom leaped forward and pinned Frostfire to the ground.

"What is the meaning of this?" Frostfire spat up at the large tom. "Your agents showed up in the middle of the night and dragged me down here! You WILL not treat a Tribe cat like this!"

"Ah...but you are NOT a Tribe cat, are you?" Longfang purred in a sinister voice, releasing her before going back to his bench. "You are Frostfire, deputy of FireClan, I presume?"

Frostfire stood wearily on her paws, shock that this cat knew her. "How do you know? And what do you want?"

Longfang raised a forepaw, licked it quick, and swiped it over his face. "I'd like to make a deal with you. It's time to regain control over BoulderClan. And you have something I need." When her eyes narrowed at this, he added, "You know. Cavestar's trust."

"Why the hell should I help you?" the disguised deputy asked the former deputy warily.

"Because I can help you capture the Avatar Cat," Longfang hissed, his green eyes glowing. "We are both deputies who care for our Clans, right?"

Frostfire's ears erected at this piece of new. _He knows where the Avatar Cat is? _Out loud, she hissed, "Go ahead. I'm listening."

Longfang returned her wicked grin with a wicked grin of his own.

**...**

Inside the Emerald Griffin cream shop, Bearclaw was busy sweeping up for the evening. Today had been an important and exciting day for him and his uncle. There was no strife and no misery; instead, there was joy and happiness for everyone.

As Irontail cleared up a table, a brown cat entered the shop and padded right towards Irontail. Ignoring the confused look on Bearclaw's face, he mewed to Irontail, "I have a message from Cavestar's palace. Have a good day."

He bowed low to the ground and handed a scroll to Irontail before backing away. The flat-faced gray tabby pawed it toward him and read through it with a look of worry. His amber-orange eyes widened with astonishment, as if prey was turning into a cat right before him.

"G-Great StarClan above," Irontail rasped, his voice rising with joy.

"Uncle? What is it?" Bearclaw asked him, padding over to his uncle. "What's it say?"

"Good news, my nephew! We've been invited to serve cream to Cavestar! Isn't it exciting?"

Irontail turned around and ran off excitedly towards the rear of the cream shop. Bearclaw just watched him go with a smile, and then he resumed sweeping the floor, feeling joy for his uncle.

Just a few hours before, Irontail had told him to follow his life's passion, and life would reward him. Right now, it had happened, for things were indeed looking happy for the rogues: Cavestar had invited them to serve cream to him. He would get to see the leader of BoulderClan, but he knew that this day was going to be his uncle's day.

_Thank you, StarClan..._

**...**

The door closed itself up to Longfang's cell, leaving the former EarthClan deputy in shadows. Frostfire was being led away by the Tai Kwan cats, her head held low. As she allowed the Tai Kwan cats to lead her out of the prison chamber, her yellow eyes opened and sneered cruelly.

This was going to be a glorious day for FireClan. BoulderClan would fall and rebuilt for the sly Longfang, and the Avatar Cat would be hers. Plus, Bearclaw would not be expecting the next attack she would make against him.

Victory...would be hers.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Well, here we go! The first half of the season finale!**

**Aang: I can't wait for this FanFic to end. It's been quite a while since you started this one.**

**Katara (Looking down for some reason) Yeah...I'm sorry if I'm acting gloomy, but I can't stand to watch what happens next. So I'll leave when the next chapter comes and come back after that. Would you two be okay with that?**

**Both: Sure! (Katara says her thanks and leaves)**

**Aang: (To the readers) Don't worry, everyone; she'll be back. In the meantime, read and review! Those who do will get a virtual plush doll of Rafiki! Flames won't be allowed on here, but advice and constructive criticism are always welcome!**

**AvatarCat12: And now here's the preview for Pawsteps Of Destiny.**

**Preview: ****Goldwing and two of his friends reunite to find a way to rescue Silverheart from BoulderClan. And Bearclaw and Irontail get very unexpected and unpleasant company. What will happen to BoulderClan with FireClan cats within the walls? And will Goldwing find a way to unlock the last chakra once again?**

**All three: See ya next time!**


	21. Pawsteps Of Destiny

**AvatarCat12: Here we are! The final chapter for Book 2! Until the epilogue, that is.**

**Aang: And Katara won't be here for this chapter, since she's still upset about what took place. So she'll be back after this chapters done and over with.**

**AvatarCat12: And today is also four years since Avatar: The Last AirBender came to an end. We'll tell you what to expect when this chapter's done.**

**Aang: And here's the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: AvatarCat12 doesn't own our series or Warrior Cats. Mike DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter own them. Avatar Cat is just blending these two together for others' enjoyment. And he does not own the song "It Will Be Me." It belongs to Melissa Etheridge from the Disney movie Brother Bear 2.**

**Summary: Goldwing and two of his friends reunite to find a way to rescue Silverheart from BoulderClan. And Bearclaw and Irontail get very unexpected and unpleasant company. What will happen to BoulderClan with FireClan cats within the walls? And will Goldwing find a way to unlock the last chakra once again?**

**Uploading Date: July 19, 2012**

**Both: See ya next time!**

**...**

_Pawsteps Of Destiny_

A pinto mare looked up to the flying dragon, her bay-colored foal skipping around her before drinking from the stream before them. Goldwing and Ashfeather were flying on Archie over the grasslands and badlands of EarthClan, seeing the great wall before them. Below them, other animals looked up to see Archie flying before they went back to whatever they were doing.

Goldwing, meanwhile, was praying to StarClan, _Great StarClan, don't let Silverheart die!_

"So what kind of trouble is Silverheart in?" Ashfeather asked.

"I-I have no idea," the golden tom replied, turning to face him. "I saw a vision of her in danger, so that's all I know for now."

Ashfeather gave him a weird look before snorting. "It'd be cool if your Avatar Cat powers could be a _bit_ more precise once in a while."

But then, Goldwing heard a strange noise. It sounded a bit like the earth shaking, and yet he wasn't entirely on the ground to hear it.

"Hey, what the hell is that?" Ashfeather mewed, pointing his muzzle towards an approaching dust cloud.

Goldwing followed his friend's gaze to where he was looking at. And then he saw her: Nightpaw was racing over the hills, leaving a large trail of dust. He had no idea how the black-pelted cat had gotten all the way over here, but he did have one suspicion, though. Someone must have tried to make off with her.

So Goldwing brought Archie down to her level as Ashfeather called, "Hey, Nightpaw! Need a lift?"

The EarthClan apprentice turned towards him with shock, perhaps at seeing the two older cats flying beside her. But by looking over at them, she lost her concentration. The mound she was earth-skating on fell apart, and Nightpaw tumbled to the ground. Goldwing and Ashfeather just watched painfully, turning away a bit.

_That's gotta hurt, _the Avatar Cat thought as he made Archie fly towards the fallen black cat.

**...**

Frostfire, Rose, and Aya had called a secret meeting for all the Tai Kwan cats, but it was with a different calling. Instead of saying "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey", Frostfire had said "Let all Tai Kwan cats gather." None of the regular warriors asked her why _they_ were not allowed, but they seemed to trust the Tai Kwan still.

Anyways, all these cats had gathered at a very large dark hallway underground. On both sides of it were enormous ancient statues of giant cats. In the middle, there were many Tai Kwan agent cats, all lined up in rows like an army of soldier ants. Frostfire, accompanied by her friends in their Tribe disguises, stood on a statue's pedestal and addressed the Tai Kwan cats.

"Cavestar and The Congress of Five do not trust the Tai Kwan cats. They have imprisoned your leader, Longfang, instead of the enemy. Soon, they will turn against all of you and eliminate you. Seizing power today is a just matter of life and death."

Disregarding a brown Tai Kwan cat lowering his head in anxiety, Frostfire leaped down from the pedestal and came closer to the agents. "The rebellion must be swift and decisive. Cavestar, and each of the five top senior warriors, must be taken out at the same time. Longfang has placed you in my command while we overthrow the ministry."

Then she stalked toward a ginger Tai Kwan cat agent with a scar on his cheek and looked him in the eyes. "Now here's a warning for all of you. If I sense any disloyalty, any hesitation, even _any_ weakness, I will find them out and weed them out like good or bad grain. That is all."

The ginger cat merely watched nervously as Frostfire padded away. The Tai Kwan cats turned around, and all of them began walking away from her. Frostfire watched them go, savage pride surging in her mind after her announcement. She had managed to make the Tai Kwan cats put their trust in her and her friends.

The FireClan deputy climbed back up the steps while Aya returned with a rat in her jaws. The bubbly FireClan warrior laid it down at her paws and purred, "That was a nice speech, Frostfire! It was beautiful and poetic, but it was also scary. In a good way!"

"Yeah," Rose added with a smirk on her face. "I thought you were gonna make that stupid ginger cat piss himself with fright."

"There are still a few loose ends here in this city," Frostfire reminded them, crouching low and taking a bite of flesh from the rat. "And they are three cats. The Avatar Cat, my failure brother, and my idiot uncle."

_I'll get them before I get to conquer this city._

**...**

Bearclaw and Irontail looked around them as they stood in front of a carriage outside the royal palace. Irontail was carrying a white ornate box containing his cream set on a string around his neck. The two former FireClan cats made their way towards the entrance.

While they padded towards the palace, Bearclaw felt pride towards his uncle. This was a special day for them both, after all. Cavestar had invited them to make some cream for him; they would not let him down.

"I had imagined myself here many times at the foot of the royal palace," Irontail purred, turning to his nephew. "But I had always thought I would be here as a conqueror...but not today! Instead, we are Cavestar's personal guests, here to serve him cream. Destiny is a funny thing, you know?"

"Sure is, Uncle Irontail," Bearclaw purred back, flicking him on the ear with his tail. "Sure is."

**...**

Archie lashed his tail quickly as he flew over the outer wall of BoulderClan. Goldwing could still see the drill from over a half-moon ago, its pointed end buried deep within the thick outer wall. He could recall being splattered with wall sludge as he faced off against Frostfire, her coal-black pelt bristling with savage triumph.

"So Twinkletoes," Nightpaw mewed, making the golden cat turn to her. "How'd it go with that old monkey? Did you get to master the Avatar Cat State?"

But Goldwing didn't reply. He turned away from her, thinking back to what had happened back at the eastern AirClan camp. This feeling of shame was all because he couldn't let Silverheart go, but he didn't want to do it. Then Rafiki's parting words made him groan.

_By choosing an earthly attachment over cosmic energy, you have failed to unlock the chakra! If you leave now and not finish this, you won't go into the Avatar Cat State at all!_

"Goldwing?" Ashfeather's mew made him snap out of it. "You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah," he replied, smiling sheepishly. "It went really good with Guru Rafiki. I completely mastered the Avatar Cat State. Heh-heh..."

Ashfeather and Nightpaw shared a confused glance at this, as if they didn't believe him. To his relief, they didn't ask any more of the subject as they turned back to the road. Goldwing didn't want to tell them that he failed to master the Avatar Cat State; that would send them into panic.

**...**

Behind the palace, the leader's house was a large decorated house on the palace grounds, walled by shrubbery. Bearclaw and Irontail waited inside, sitting patiently at a table; no one had come to greet them. Just before them sat a small throne set on a raised platform. Irontail poured a bowl of cream as they waited for the leader to arrive.

"What do you think is taking the leader so long, Uncle?" Bearclaw asked his uncle, lifting his nose in the air and smelling for a scent.

"Who knows? Maybe he just overslept?" Irontail replied, shrugging.

Suddenly, two Tai Kwan cats stalked into the room from the right and formed a circle around the two cream servers. Bearclaw glanced from left to right, trying to figure out what this all meant, for he had heard that Tai Kwan cats were the protectors of the city. _Why would Tai Kwan cats come here instead of the leader?_

"Something's not right," he hissed in a low voice.

"Ah, so you're making a little cream party, aren't you?"

Bearclaw whipped around and gasped in shock at who it was. It was Frostfire; he hadn't seen her since she had attacked and almost killed his uncle..._their_ uncle. Her black pelt shone a dark gray in a shaft of sunlight, and her yellow eyes were narrowed as she approached. The Tai Kwan cats did not try to stop her; instead, they bowed to her when she approached her targets.

Quickly, Bearclaw leapt to his paws and unsheathed his claws, hissing with shock and rage. "Frostfire! What the hell are you doing here?"

The black she-cat just waved her tail around as she meowed, "Have you met the Tai Kwan cats, Teddy? They're cats of EarthClan, but they have a killer instinct that's just like FireClan itself! Ooh, I love it!"

_This can't be! _Bearclaw spat to himself. The good feeling he felt the morning before was now gone, replaced by burning rage like a fire. How DARE Frostfire invade BoulderClan and hunt them down? Had she not made them suffer enough damage with the near-death of Irontail?

But Irontail just picked up the bowl of cream he poured and stood next to Bearclaw. "My niece, have I ever told you how I got my nickname? The Griffin of the West?"

"I'm not interested in a long anecdote, uncle," Frostfire yawned in a bored tone, observing her claws.

"Actually, it's more of a display," the fat gray tabby insisted, finishing it by lapping up some cream. Bearclaw smirked to himself; this was always interesting to watch.

Suddenly, by instincts, the large dark tabby ducked behind Irontail just before the ex-warrior of FireClan entered a FireBending stance, opened his mouth, and breathed a powerful torrent of fire at the Tai Kwan, more like a dragon. The agents lowered their heads and lifted their paws to their faces to shield themselves.

Bearclaw leapt to the side and burst through the wall with a fire blast, running down the hallway. Irontail quickly followed him, still breathing fire at the Tai Kwan before catching up. Two Tai Kwan cats leapt through the hole in the wall and began firing the small claw pieces of their rock paws like bullets with swift thrusts of their paws. The stone bullets barely missed Bearclaw and Irontail, becoming embedded in the wall.

A flash of lightning followed this attack and broke open the wall before them, and Irontail rushed past Bearclaw. With a yowl, he leapt out the hole in the wall as he fell on top of a hedge bush in the shape of a platypus bear, digging his claws into the bark. He groaned and looked up to where Bearclaw was: standing before the hole in the wall.

"Come on, Bearclaw!" Irontail called. "Jump! You'll be fine!"

"No!" Bearclaw spat back, now losing his cool mind from before. "I'm sick and tired of running from everyone! It's time I battle Frostfire!"

Irontail merely groaned in frustration, but he jumped down from the hedge bush and made his escape.

Bearclaw nodded down at his retreating form before turning back to face Frostfire and the Tai Kwan cats. These cats had him back up against a corner of the wall, making him hiss and bare his fang.

"Aw, you're being so dramatic," Frostfire mewed, sneering. "What are you going to do now, Teddy? Challenge me to an Agni Kai?"

"Yes!" Bearclaw snarled, his claws scratching the floor. "I challenge you!"

"No thanks," his sister just meowed in a mocking way.

Bearclaw unsheathed his claws even more as he created a large ball of flame on his tail, spun around, and pushed it at Frostfire. His littermate watched calmly as two Tai Kwan cats stood between her and the attack and raised a large four-sided tile from the floor, blocking the fire blast. Both cats flung their stone paws at Bearclaw's left front paw, trapping him to the floor.

The large dark tabby tom stumbled and placed his right forepaw the floor, which was pinned down by another stone paw. Bearclaw struggled in vain to pull himself free while Frostfire turned away from the fight.

"Damn you!" he snarled up at her. "Damn you to Hell!"

"Oh, many have, Teddy," Frostfire sneered, not looking back. "Many have."

And Bearclaw barely had enough time before something clawed him on the head before his head fell to the floor. He closed his eyes, slowly fading away into catalepsy.

**...**

"Silverheart's fine, you three," Cavestar was meowing. "You don't have to worry at all."

Goldwing and his two friends had flown over the wall and arrived at the palace. The guards did not stop them like last time; instead, they bowed them in respectfully. When they arrived at the leader's throne room, they saw him sitting calmly on the throne, his tail hanging over the seat. Yogi the platypus bear was lying down in front of his master, his black eyes observing the three younger cats.

"But in my vision, I saw that she was in danger," Goldwing protested, shaking his head.

Cavestar look confused at this. "Hmm...well, she DID meet up with the Congress of Five to plan out the invasion. And since then, she's been off with your friends, the island guards of the Tribe of Heavy Roses."

"See, buddy? She's off with Echo and her friends!" Ashfeather reassured Goldwing, nudging his shoulder. "I bet some mouse-tails they're off at our place, talking about kits or something."

_Really? _Goldwing asked him quietly, half amazed and half skeptical. He looked away from his friend to think it all over, unable to comprehend what went on in his head. How could Silverheart not be in danger despite having blood all over her and having several clumps of fur clawed off?

But perhaps...they could just be playing a game. The blood might be paint, and there could have been health patches that pasted her fur down. And the yowling...she might have been pretending.

So he sighed, "I suppose you're right."

"And believe me, you three," Cavestar spoke up as they turned to him, "if there was any danger here at all, Yogi's platypus bear instincts would sense it and give us a warning."

At the sound of his name, Yogi looked up at him with blinking beady eyes. He opened his bill and let out a massive yawn before falling back asleep. This little scene caused Goldwing and his friends to exchange confused looks.

**...**

The stinging pain did not go away. Silverheart groaned as she wearily paced her prison place, the blood on her shoulder caked dry. She looked around her again to see what kind of cave she had been forced to go into.

The cave she was in was littered completely with crystals, glowing green crystals that either jutted out from the ground or from the ceiling. Even the ground itself was green, though there was no grass to be seen anywhere; there was even no prey around. A lack of plants meant that there were no herbs, making it clear that there was no way for Silverheart to heal her shoulder. But there was water nearby that she could take a drink from.

Suddenly, she heard a rumbling noise and looked up to the sheer tunnel leading outside. The big stone blocking the entrance was slid away by a Tai Kwan agent. Another agent appeared holding a large dark figure by the scruff.

"Hey, whore!" the first Tai Kwan cat growled. "You got company!"

At this, the second Tai Kwan cat tossed the dark cat away from him. The dark cat tumbled nearer until he was right at Silverheart's white forepaws. The silver WaterClan warrior gasped at who this cat was; she recognized him by the dark brown tabby pelt and the amber eyes. But most of all, there was the red claw scars on his right eye.

"Bearclaw!" she mewed with shock.

But remembering what he had done in the past, her shock slowly and suddenly faded away into rage. At her paws, Bearclaw looked up at her and slowly looked away, looking troubled as the Tai Kwan cats left them and sealed up the entrance.

**...**

Goldwing, Ashfeather, and Nightpaw waited as Archie flew towards the house they stayed at, the sun beaming down onto them. This brought back the half-moon old memory of how they had arrived at the city of BoulderClan. But by the looks of an extra wall, it looked like that the wall Nightpaw had wrecked was being rebuilt.

Archie landed heavily on the ground in front of the house. The three cats waited until the Asian Lung Dragon settled down before they leaped down and ran into the house. Upon entry, Tobias greeted them by chattering excitedly and flying onto Goldwing's shoulder.

"Hey, Tobias!" Goldwing purred to his hawk. "How're you doing?"

Tobias threw his head up and gave another excited caw.

Goldwing purred at the red-tailed hawk and looked around the living room. Silverheart wasn't here, and neither were Echo and the other island guards of the Tribe. His worrying thoughts came back to haunt him.

"Huh," Nightpaw mewed, sniffing the air. "There's no one here."

"I knew it!" Goldwing spat, angry at himself for ignoring his worrying. "She IS in danger!"

Ashfeather's tail lashed with anxiety, and Goldwing knew how protective he was around his younger sister. He moaned "Oh shit! What do we do?" before pacing around the room.

Suddenly, Nightpaw mewed, "Wait. There's someone at the door. They'll be knocking in just a second or two."

The black she-cat flicked her tail towards the door as she spoke. And soon enough, there was a knock on the door, loud enough for them to hear.

"Yep. I know who that is. He's an old friend of mine," Nightpaw mewed.

Goldwing exchanged looks with Ashfeather at this. But they stopped when Nightpaw opened the door slightly, mewing, "Hey there. It's good to...feel your pawsteps again. Glad you're okay."

"Good to see you again, young apprentice," an old familiar voice meowed. "But today's not a good time for formal greetings. I need your help."

When the cat padded into the room, Goldwing and Ashfeather gazed on in pure shock while Tobias gave a cry of alarm. They had not expected to see this cat again, not since he was almost killed a moon ago. Not only did this cat survive the attack, but he had also come all the way here to BoulderClan.

The cat in front of them all...was Irontail of FireClan.

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"Wait a minute! You two know each other?" Goldwing rasped, pointing his muzzle at Irontail.

"Yeah," Nightpaw meowed. "It was after I left AvatarClan when we were chased by Frostfire. I met him in the forest and accidentally knocked him down. Then he gave me a bowl of cream and some very good advice."

Goldwing and Ashfeather gave the black cat a strange look before looking back at Irontail. That must be why she looked upset when Frostfire struck him: she had been his friend after what had happened. But Goldwing hardly blamed Nightpaw for that; Irontail was nothing like the reckless Bearclaw.

In the meantime, the former FireClan cat seemed better than he had been when he was struck by his niece's lightning attack. His pelt looked shinier, and he seemed to have lost a tiny bit of weight.

Irontail nodded along with Nightpaw before meowing politely, "May I please come in?" When Nightpaw nodded and stepped aside, the fat gray tabby tom padded in with a worry on his face and mewed, "I have some bad news. Frostfire is here in BoulderClan."

"She must've captured Silverheart," Goldwing realized, cursing himself for not knowing this.

"She had captured Bearclaw as well," Irontail added, his orange eyes shining with anxiety.

Goldwing nodded at this, looking over at him. "Then we'll work together to fight Frostfire and rescue Silverheart and Bearclaw."

But Ashfeather stepped in and meowed, "Whoa, hold on there. You lost me at the part of 'And Bearclaw.' Does that mean we have to save that jackass?"

"I know how you young ones feel towards my nephew," Irontail replied, laying his tail on the dark gray tabby tom's shoulder. "But I ask you to listen that there is good inside of him."

"'Good inside of him' doesn't catch prey," Ashfeather growled, jerking away from the elder. "Come back when it's outside of him!"

This was enough for the Avatar Cat to see. Goldwing hurried forward and dragged Ashfeather by the tail back to Irontail, ignoring his pale cerulean glare. Nightpaw was giving Ashfeather a glare of her own, perhaps angry at him for not believing her friend.

"Silverheart's in danger, and she's your sister," Goldwing reasoned with him. "In fact, this entire city's in danger. So working together is the only choice we will have to make."

Ashfeather glared at him before closing his eyes, his whiskers quivering. Goldwing was afraid he would refuse, for he knew that the WaterClan tom would never help a FireClan cat. Besides, it was FireClan that killed his mother and nearly hunted their Clan to extinction. However, not all FireClan cats were evil; there were some good cats like Irontail in the world today.

Finally, Ashfeather began nodding his head in a resentful way. Despite that, it was good enough for Goldwing, who smiled at him in reply.

"By the way," Irontail spoke up, "I brought someone who can help."

The flat-faced gray tabby tom headed back outside, and the others followed. Goldwing wondered who that was, but there was just a bound and gagged Tai Kwan cat sitting on the porch. As quick as a flash, Nightpaw lifted him up by EarthBending two stone slabs on either side of him. Irontail pulled down the cloth over his face, showing a ginger pelt and a scar across his right cheek.

The ginger tom looked up at the four cats with fear in his gray eyes. "Frostfire and Longfang are working together to create a rebellion. They're going to overthrow Cavestar."

"Where the hell are they keeping my sister?" Ashfeather snarled angrily, planting a paw on his throat. "Her name's Silverheart, she has silver fur, and she has a fox-fang necklace on her neck! Where is she?"

"In the crystal crypts of old BoulderClan," the ginger tom choked under the pressure of the dark gray tabby's paw on his throat. "It's deep beneath the palace."

Ashfeather snorted with a hint of approval as he removed his paw from the ginger tom's throat while Irontail removed the ropes. The ginger tom rasped with relief before slipping away from them and running off, casting a wary look over his shoulder. Goldwing and the other three cats looked on as he ran off before running off in the direction of Cavestar's palace.

While the four cats ran, Goldwing kept praying that Silverheart was all right. If she wasn't, or if she was dead, he would blame himself for what had happened. A savage feeling to protect her made him catch up with Irontail, who was easily running ahead of the other two cats. For if Frostfire got Silverheart hurt, she would pay dearly...but he didn't want to hurt the deputy.

**...**

Longfang was musing in his cell, his eyes closed, while talking with a Tai Kwan agent outside his cell. The operation in the plan was working quite smoothly; with Frostfire as his ally, the city of BoulderClan would be his. He thought of this with pure triumph, his right ear flickering.

"The movements of all the generals and Cavestar have been plotted out step by step," the red tabby tom meowed to Longfang.

Longfang wrinkled his nose. "And I hear that the FireClan deputy is cooperating well?"

The red tabby nodded. "Oh yes! She is! More than cooperating, she's taken charge. She's scary and inspiring at the same time. It's hard to explain."

"I see," Longfang replied. "Now leave, please."

The red tabby nodded and padded away, his pawsteps fading away.

Longfang opened his green eyes for a moment, full of suspicion. What was Frostfire doing that was making the Tai Kwan obey her and not him, their master? _Well, whatever it is, _he thought, closing his eyes again, _she better not try anything funny._

_Not while I still live._

...

When he had gotten to his paws, Bearclaw sat down, turning away from the silver she-cat. _What was her name again? Silverpaw or something? _He remembered her saying this name when he fought against her in the northern WaterClan camp. But he had to admit that she got stronger and quite prettier: her silver fur glowing white in the crystal light.

But what in StarClan's name was she doing here in this place? What was more important was that what would happen if his uncle was caught by Frostfire. The dark brown tabby tom sunk his long sharp claws into the ground, cursing his littermate for going after them. They had lived in peace and forgot their troubles, but Frostfire's appearance had given them back.

Behind him, Silverpaw was stalking around, snarling angrily. Her voice was full of harsh anger and...strange bitterness.

"Why are you even here in the first place?" she snarled. Without waiting for an answer, she went on, "Oh wait! Let me guess. It's a trap! So when Goldwing comes to get me out of here, then you can finally catch him in your little FireClan claws!"

Bearclaw looked down at his claws; they were long, not tiny. He looked behind him to see her digging her own claws into the ground, scraping up dirt. The former FireClan cat didn't reply.

Silverpaw's fur bristled as she growled, "You're a horrible cat! Did you think of that? Always trying to take us prisoner, hunting the Avatar Cat down, and trying to capture him to end all hope for peace in the Clans! And without him, this war will never end! A war that your hell of a Clan started! But why should you care? You're Darkstar's son and Tigerstar's descendant! Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood! It always has been, and it will always be!"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Bearclaw muttered, turning away from her. Not all of Tigerstar's descendants were evil.

"WHAT? How dare you!" the silver she-cat roared, sounding angrier. "You have NO idea what this war has done to me and my Clan! And...me, personally..."

She had stopped talking, turned away, and looked down at her forepaws, tears in her dark blue eyes. Then she sat down and choked, her voice thick with sorrow as she pawed at her fox-fang necklace, "FireClan had taken my mother away from me...I-I'll never see her again..."

But Silverpaw didn't talk anymore, for she bent her head low and began crying, her shoulders shaking with despairing sobs. This made Bearclaw turn around to look over at her.

Like her, he himself had lost his mother, but he was also a bit unlike her. Unlike Silverpaw's mother, Bearheart had fled from the Clan, never to be heard from for many moons. He never knew where she went to, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

"I-I'm sorry. That's one thing we have in common."

Silverpaw turned around to him in surprise, her crying stopping. Bearclaw padded forward and, out of habit, began licking the tears from around her blue eyes. To his relief, the WaterClan cat didn't flinch away or yowl at him for doing this. Instead, she closed her eyes and sighed as he kept trying to lick her face dry.

**...**

"Well, what do you know? There IS an ancient city down there! But it's deep."

Nightpaw was feeling the ground and sniffing the air, trying to scent her surroundings. Finally, she reared onto her hind legs and rested her forepaws on the wall of the palace walls. Goldwing and Ashfeather flicked their tails at her, telling Irontail what her power was. The old fat gray tabby tom nodded calmly as he looked on.

Finally, Nightpaw got down on all fours and darted a bit away from the wall. Then she thrust her left front paw forward, EarthBending a small crater in the ground, earning a murmur of awe from Irontail.

Ashfeather rose his head and announced, "Let's split up for this. Goldwing, you and Irontail head in there to look for Silverheart and the angry hairball. No offense, Irontail."

"None taken," Irontail replied, a purr of amusement rising in his throat. "He can often be an angry hairball once in a while."

"...right," Ashfeather mewed, looking awkward. "And in the meantime, Nightpaw and I are gonna go warn Cavestar about the rebellion."

Tobias landed on the dark gray tabby's shoulder and gave a caw before the two other cats ran off up the palace steps. Archie, who had followed them by walking, merely looked up at the sky and laid down on his back, pawing the air a few times. Goldwing and Irontail, meanwhile, nodded at the retreating forms before heading into the tunnel.

Once they got into the hole, Goldwing began digging by using EarthBending. Irontail joined in with the digging, digging like a dog as a flame balanced itself on the tip of his tail. He was using the flame to light the way for them.

_Wow...this is awkward, _Goldwing thought to himself, not speaking. It was weird to be talking to a cat from a Clan that was his enemy for fourteen years. But things wouldn't be very fun if he did not talk to an elder, cats with the wisest experiences. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two until Goldwing decided to break the ice.

"Nightpaw told us you give out good advice," the golden tom told Irontail. "And she told us you make some tasty cream."

"The key to both is proper aging," Irontail purred. Noticing a frown on his face, he meowed, "I can see the look of uneasiness on your face. What's on your mind, youngster?"

Goldwing paused for a second to deepen the tunnel with EarthBending. He felt like telling the wise old cat about how Rafiki had tried to tell him to give Silverheart up for cosmic power. He pieced together the words before continuing.

"I met with this guru mandrill who was supposed to help me master the Avatar Cat State and to control this great power," Goldwing began, feeling some of the words trip on his tongue. "But to do it, I had to let go of someone I love very much, but I...I just couldn't."

Irontail smiled. "Perfection and power are overrated. I think that was wise of you. Very wise to choose happiness and love over too much energy."

They stopped again so that Goldwing could grab another pawful of dirt and toss it to the side. Then he mewed, "But what'll happen if we can't save everyone and defeat Frostfire? And without the Avatar Cat State...what if I'm not powerful enough?"

"I'm afraid I don't know the answer, young'un," Irontail answered, shrugging. "Sometimes, life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving...then you will come to a better place."

They arrived at one last wall of rocks. Goldwing pushed his forelegs forward, EarthBending the rocks out of the way and digging some extra dirt away. A green light shone through, and Irontail smiled while the flame on his tail snuffed out as the green light washed over him. The two toms strolled forward and entered the crystal catacombs.

Goldwing looked around him in awe. The crypts were full of shimmering emerald-green crystals, stalagmites, and stalactites. In the back of the area was a waterfall pouring into a strait forming two rectangles around several thick jagged columns. This was indeed what the former city would have looked like, Goldwing admitted as he looked around.

**...**

Ashfeather and Nightpaw were climbing up the stairs to Cavestar's palace, keeping their senses open for any Tai Kwan cats. Just above their heads, Tobias soared around in circles as his green eyes scanned the ground below.

But just then, the two cats noticed a figure padding around, sniffing the air just like they were. Quickly, Ashfeather realized who that cat was.

"Hey, Nightpaw! There's Paleblaze!" he hissed.

But then, he saw something else: Tai Kwan cats clinging to the pillars supporting the roof, lying in wait as the deputy padded closer. Ashfeather wanted to help, but they had a mission: warning Cavestar about the rebellion. So when Nightpaw stalked forward, Ashfeather pulled her back by the scruff, making her hiss with resentment.

As the pale ginger cat drew nearer, one of the other agents dropped down and slung a shackle at him, attaching it to one of his forelegs. Another agent shackled his other foreleg, making him snarl and try to thrash about. Paleblaze growled as they pulled on the chains, immobilizing his legs and rendering him helpless. One more Tai Kwan cat dropped down in front of him.

Ashfeather watched on with shock and horror at Paleblaze's capture. The rebellion was just starting, and there was no one to put a stop to it. Beside him, Tobias shifted his feet from one side to the other as he rested on Nightpaw's head.

"Rrrr...what the hell are you doing?" Paleblaze spat at the Tai Kwan cats.

"You're under house arrest," a pale gray cat growled, lashing at his ears with his claws. When he finished, his comrades took Paleblaze by the scruff and began hauling him away.

Ashfeather quickly turned to Nightpaw and hissed, "The rebellion's starting! We have to get to Cavestar! Now!"

At this, he gently pushed the small black cat out from their hiding spot and rushed up the stairs. Tobias cawed quietly and followed them, flapping his wings and shedding a feather as he flew. But they were unaware of all senior warriors in BoulderClan being either captured or killed by the Tai Kwan.

When they got to the top and arrived in the throne room, Ashfeather was relieved to see Cavestar still there. The gray-&-white leader was sitting calmly on his throne with Yogi the platypus bear at his side. Sitting before him were two Tribe she-cats, one pale ginger and one light gray.

"Cavestar! Thank StarClan you're here! We made it!" Ashfeather called as they skidded to a halt.

Cavestar looked over at him. "In time for what?"

"Yeah!" It was the pale ginger she-cat who spoke up. "What're you in time for...hot cat?" she added, performing a series of flips over to where Ashfeather stood, pressing her face to his.

Ashfeather took a careful step back. "Um...I'm actually mates with Echo now."

The pale ginger she-cat gave him a confused look as if she had no idea who Echo was. Then it hit Ashfeather: this cat's voice sounded different and yet so familiar. And the last time he had seen this cat, her eyes were amber, not gray.

Quickly, Nightpaw used her EarthBending to pull a rock from under the pale ginger she-cat. She gave a small shout as she was hurled into the air, but she quickly rotated her body in the air to get back on track. The she-cat flipped backward and landed on top of the woolly mammoth statue in the back of the room.

"They aren't from the Tribe!" Nightpaw growled to Cavestar, her pale green eyes blazing.

Cavestar gaped at her in shock before turning to the gray she-cat in front of him. She turned to the other cats, her amber eyes hard and unfeeling.

"Sorry to disappoint you, dumbasses," Rose hissed.

With that said, she pulled out some knives from her bag and threw three of them at Nightpaw. The black she-cat used EarthBending to bring up a slab of rock in front of her and blocked the projectiles. Then she kicked at the slab, sending it flying at Rose, who quickly leapt over it. A moment after she landed, Nightpaw used her EarthBending to pop a stone up from underneath the gray she-cat, knocking her away with a mix of blood and paint dripping from her face.

Nightpaw grinned in victory, making Ashfeather smile to her in pride. His sister had taught her apprentice how to fight well; it would be time for Nightpaw to get her warrior name soon.

As he watched the fight, Aya sidled up next to him, giggling, and with a big happy grin on her face. Ashfeather was startled and took an awkward step back. She tried to attack Ashfeather's pressure points in order to disable him, but the WaterClan warrior was too quick. Every time Aya tried to hit a joint or spot on his body, he would duck and lean out of the way, often ending up in an awkward position.

"Aww! We're dancing!" Aya cooed as Ashfeather dodged yet another attack.

"This fight...is over."

Ashfeather and Nightpaw looked away from their foes, as did their enemies. A shriek of fright had caused them to stop fighting as they saw Cavestar pinned to the ground, his green eyes wide with fright. Pinning him down...was Frostfire, whose claws were glowing with a blue flame yet not touching the leader.

Realizing that nothing could be done to help Cavestar, Ashfeather and Nightpaw bowed their heads in defeat. As fast as lightning, Aya jumped between them and disabled them both with a series of jabs from her paws. Tobias soared through the air and tried to escape, but a brown Tai Kwan cat that had entered the throne room with Frostfire jumped up and snagged the hawk down. They wrapped strings around Tobias, and Aya watched as he fell next to her.

"Now get these cats out of my sight," Frostfire snarled, shoving Cavestar roughly away from her.

Nodding, Rose and Aya dragged Nightpaw out of the room, while a Tai Kwan cat dragged her mentor's brother out by the tail. Looking over at them, another cat pushed Cavestar away; he had Yogi on a leash, who moaned sadly.

**(Author's Note: Just like before, it'll quickly switch from one POV to another.)**

Frostfire smiled evilly at what she had done; this was quite an accomplishment for her. She had disposed of two rebels besides Cavestar and his stupid platypus bear, as her mission was to be. The FireClan deputy groomed her shoulder quickly before looking at Longfang just entering the throne room, followed by a troop of Tai Kwan cats, all lined in rows.

They all stood before the black she-cat as Longfang meowed smoothly, "Well done on this tiny part, Frostfire. You have done well for a FireClan cat. Now here comes the part where I betray you. Tai Kwan, place the FireClan deputy under arrest."

Frostfire unsheathed her claws, prepared to fight a lot of these cats off. But there was no need, for she knew something like this would happen. The Tai Kwan cats did not respond. Seeing this, Longfang flicked his tail to them, frowning, and pointed a paw at Frostfire.

"I thought I told you to arrest her," the red-brown tom growled, looking back and forth at his warriors. As they didn't move, he lost his patience and snarled, "What is wrong with you all?"

"They haven't made up their minds yet on who to follow," Frostfire retorted lazily. "They're just waiting to see how this will end."

Longfang glared at her. "What in StarClan's name are you talking about?"

Frostfire's glare made him back away. "I can see your whole life in your eyes. You were born with nothing, born on the streets as a rogue cat. So you had to struggle and plot and claw your way up to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you are born with. The fact is...they don't know which one of us will sit on the throne and which one of us will bow down. But I know...and you know."

Now the former deputy of the city lowered his head. Frostfire was pleased to see the uncertainty and fear in his yellow-green eyes, his black mane now dull from lack of grooming.

"Well?" she mewed, leaping up onto the throne and laying her tail out to the side.

Longfang was now truly frightened. His ears were flattening with assent while he lowered down to the floor, his mouth open in a speechless way. Frostfire glared at him coldly; she dared for him to make a wrong move, any wrong move. If so, then she would be the one to teach him a lesson. _Perhaps a lesson like Father used on Bearclaw?_

Finally, Longfang closed his eyes and dropped his head, realizing that he had lost. The reddish tom stepped forward and bowed low before Frostfire.

"I surrender. You have beaten me in my own game," Longfang mewled calmly.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself," Frostfire retorted calmly. "You weren't much of a player from the start, now were you?"

**...**

Silverheart watched on as Bearclaw prowled silently away from her and to a very small pool of water. Now that she thought about it, she had to admit that what she said to the dark brown tabby tom was quite harsh. She had been feeling angry at FireClan for causing all this misery and pain, and she had felt upset over losing her mother at the age of four moons.

Lapping sounds told her that Bearclaw had started drinking some of the pool's water. He hadn't spoken to her ever since he tried to comfort her. And by the sounds of it, Bearclaw had perhaps lost his mother at an early age just like her.

"Bearclaw?" The dark tabby lifted his broad head as he turned to look at her, his whiskers having water droplets on the tips. Shuffling her front paws shamefully, she mewed, "I-I'm sorry I yelled at you before. I didn't mean all I said about you causing this war. And...I'm sorry I insulted you."

"It doesn't matter. I've been called worse," Bearclaw replied flippantly. "And sorry if I've hurt you all this time...Silverpaw, is it?"

Silverheart shook her head. "No, it's Silverheart. My friends and I were made warriors at the northern WaterClan. But anyways, it's just that for so long...when I imagine the face of the enemy, it was yours."

To her dismay, Bearclaw turned away so that he wouldn't show her his scar. "My face...I see."

_Damn. I didn't want to say that! _Out loud, she mewed remorsefully, "No, I didn't mean it-."

"It's okay," Bearclaw meowed, shrugging it off like he didn't care. "I used to think that this scar marked me. The mark of an exiled warrior, cursed to chase the Avatar Cat until the day I die. But lately, I now know I'm free to control my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."

Silverheart felt a rush of pity towards him when she saw the scar on his face. He must have been young to receive a scar like this; this was definitely NOT from a bear. Gathering her courage, she gave a sigh and meowed, "But maybe...you can be free from it."

A spark of hope shined in Bearclaw's golden eyes as he turned towards her. Silverheart's heart beat a little at how rugged yet handsome the dark brown tabby tom was. Under the green light, his lean muscles were showing underneath his long dark pelt. But she shook her head to clear up what she was feeling.

"W-What did you say?" His voice snapped her back to reality.

"I can help you get rid of it. I have healing abilities," Silverheart mewed, stepping closer.

But Bearclaw looked away from her. "It's a scar, Silverheart. Scars can't be healed."

Getting an idea, Silverheart pawed her bag over to her side and fished out her amulet filled with spirit water from the Moonpond. This was the same amulet she had gotten from Snowstorm, who had started his journey to the southern WaterClan. She held the amulet's string in her mouth and padded over to Bearclaw, who gave her a confused look.

"This amulet is filled with water from the Moonpond at the North Pole," Silverheart told him. "It has special healing power, so I was saving it for something important. I guess this is important too. I don't know if this will work, but..."

Bearclaw stared at the WaterClan she-cat for just a moment before closing his eyes and silently accepting her offer. Giving a small sigh of resolute, Silverheart placed her paw on the FireClan tom's scar and examined it. She even leaned towards his face and began to gently lick the scar to get rid of any dirt on there. Their faces got closer as she reached her paw towards the amulet at her paws, causing them to blush just a bit.

Silverheart tried hard to ignore the need to press her face against Bearclaw's in a loving way. She reminded herself that she would never fall in love with the dark brown tom, even if he had turned his life around. What mattered now was to get rid of the scar on his face.

Before she did anything else, however, there was a crash from their right side, making both cats look over to the side. Silverheart was relieved and amazed as Goldwing burst into the tunnel, his dark gray eyes filled with frantic worry. Strangely, Bearclaw's uncle Irontail was behind him as he huffed to keep up with the golden tomcat.

"Goldwing!"

Silverheart bounded away from Bearclaw and threw the Avatar Cat into a hug. Goldwing was looking confused at the scene he saw before him before his face became an angry glare. Afraid that he was angry to see them together, Silverheart looked to see what was wrong...but he wasn't glaring at her.

Bearclaw, in the meantime, was getting the same thing Silverheart gave Goldwing: a hug from his uncle. He gave Irontail a gentle lick on top of his head before turning to glare at Goldwing in return, his thick tabby coat bristling. Silverheart didn't move from her spot, but she was afraid that the two toms would leap at one another and attack instead of working together.

_If _that _happens, then how will we save BoulderClan? Before it's too late?_

**...**

_**Commercial Break**_

**...**

"I knew you would come, Goldwing!" Silverheart purred, rubbing her cheek against the Avatar Cat's cheek. Goldwing responded with a bit of a weak nod before staring back at Bearclaw with surprise.

But Bearclaw wasn't bothered by Silverheart not healing his scar. What bothered him more was that the Avatar Cat was working with his uncle. No matter how this looked like an alliance, there was no way a FireClan cat would team up with the Avatar Cat. He turned to his uncle, who was still hugging him, and rasped, "I don't understand, uncle. What the hell are you doing here with the Avatar Cat?" At the last two words, he flicked his tail at said cat.

"Saving your pelt," Goldwing retorted, apparently hearing that.

Insulted, Bearclaw snarled and unsheathed his claws, stalking towards the golden cat. If this cat wanted a fight with him and his uncle, then he could have one! But this was disrupted as Irontail grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him back, preventing a pointless fight.

"It's time we talked about this," the fat gray tabby tom told him firmly. To Silverheart and her friend, he pointed a paw down the tunnel and meowed, "You two go on ahead of us and help your other friends. We will catch up with you shortly."

Goldwing nodded in respect towards Irontail before running back through the hole in the cave. Silverheart followed after him, but she suddenly stopped. The silver warrior turned her head and gave the sullen Bearclaw a last sad glance before exiting.

But when Irontail turned back, Bearclaw turned his head away and rasped in a hurt tone, "_Why, _Uncle Irontail?"

"You are not the cat you used to be, Bearclaw," Irontail explained. "You are stronger, wiser, and freer than ever in your life. And now, you are close to following the pawsteps of your destiny. It's time to choose, Bearclaw. It's time for you to choose either good or evil!"

These words made Bearclaw look down to the ground and shut his eyes, absorbing his uncle's words. _What would I choose in my pawsteps of destiny?_ _Good...or evil? Try to decide my own destiny...or go along with the crowd? StarClan help me with this!_

But before he could process this wisdom, Bearclaw was startled by a violent quake in the ground. A trail of crystals shot out of the ground until they reached Irontail, trapping him like he was in a prison. Bearclaw readied himself for an attack, ready to attack whatever was attacking his uncle. However, he looked up when he heard another noise: cats sliding on rocks somewhere.

Frostfire and two Tai Kwan cats slid down from the tunnel Bearclaw had entered. The black she-cat advanced towards her littermate until he was directly between his uncle and his sister. Now this reminded him of his dream: the dream of two griffins, one black and one white. The griffins must have represented his uncle and his sister, one good and one bad.

"I expected this kind of treason from Uncle, but Bearclaw?" she meowed. "You're many things, but you're no traitor. Not unlike our ancestor Tigerstar, who only wanted to help his Clan."

"What are you doing with him? Release him NOW!" Bearclaw roared at her.

But Frostfire didn't listen. Instead, she meowed, "It's not too late, Bearclaw. It's too late for Uncle, but not for you. You can still redeem yourself."

"This kind of redemption she tells you is not very wise-" Irontail tried to warn his nephew.

"Let _him_ decide for himself, you old ass," Frostfire hissed, her yellow eyes aflame. Then their glare softened as she mewed to her brother, "Bearclaw, I need you. I've plotted every move of this day. This will be the most glorious day in FireClan history. And the only way we win is if we work together. At the end of today, you _will_ have your honor back. You will have Darkstar's love. You will have everything you ever wanted."

Irontail spoke up, "Bearclaw, I beg of you. Look into your heart and find what you truly want in your life."

Bearclaw looked back at Irontail, whose amber eyes were wide with a pleading stare. He felt very unsure of whom to listen to: his uncle or his sister. He shut his eyes and hung his great broad head, trying to come to a decision.

Frostfire, meanwhile, tilted her head a little sideways. "You are free to choose, brother. Clan cats are free to choose what to do with their lives."

She waved her tail to the Tai Kwan agents, signaling them to leave and mewing "Let's go, Tai Kwan." Both used EarthBending to create a stone cube under their paws and slid back up the ramp. Frostfire moved off through the tunnel Silverheart and her friend had gone through.

Bearclaw's mind was in turmoil over what actions he should make in this critical moment. Here was a moment to either choose his sister's shot at redemption...or follow the wise sayings of his uncle. His mind was full of churning waters of change like a great river filling a gorge until the banks burst. The big dark tabby sunk his claws into the ground again, scraping up green-colored dirt in frustration.

What should he choose?

**...**

The sound of rushing water reached Goldwing's ears as he and Silverheart ran through the main part of the catacombs where the waterfall was. Despite the unhealed injuries Silverheart had, she still seemed to be strong enough to run for a bit more. Dried blood had hardened on her smooth silver-gray fur, and clumps of fur were missing, but that didn't bother her.

Goldwing was proud of her for keeping her head held high.

"Come on!" Her voice made him snap back to her. "We have to find Ashfeather and Nightpaw!"

Suddenly, before they could move any farther, a stream of blue fire rocketed towards the two cats from behind. Goldwing quickly turned around and EarthBended a wall of stone to protect them. The fire hit the wall with great force, knocking the golden AirClan tom back. Goldwing looked up to see the attacker: Frostfire, her claws still smoking from the attack.

_Damn it! _he hissed softly. _Now we have to fight our way out! And how long can Silverheart stay in battle?_

Silverheart sprung around the flaming wall and Bended the water in the channel. She charged at Frostfire and brought the water crashing down on her. The black she-cat deflected the attack with a short blast of fire and swiped towards Silverheart's paw. But Silverheart kept her energy and spun the water around her, smashing it into the floor and creating a large wave. Frostfire swung her head around and shot a jet of flame out of her mouth, making a wall of fire to dissolve the wave coming at her.

The resulting steam hid the FireClan deputy from view. Goldwing and Silverheart looked from the left to the right, preparing for a sneak attack. Their senses were on the alert in case Frostfire tried to catch them from behind.

A moment later, Frostfire leapt out of the steam from one of the larger crystals high above. She attacked them with two blue fire balls on her paws, which Goldwing and Silverheart put out by Bending the water from the channel into a shield. Frostfire landed on a piece of rock jutting out from one of the large columns. Goldwing rose to his hind paws forward and brought his front paws down, sending a shockwave through the ground and into the column, destroying it. The evil black cat gasped and dropped down between the two cats, pointing her tail at them.

Finally, Goldwing and Silverheart rushed at Frostfire together and knocked her down, clawing at her ears in return. Frostfire got up and looked back and forth between the two of them nervously, waiting for their next move.

Suddenly, a blast of red fire landed between Goldwing and Frostfire. They shielded themselves from it and turned towards the new opponent: Bearclaw. The large dark brown tabby tom drew closer to them, poised in a FireBending stance. He looked over to his sister, who gazed back at him harshly.

"Choose!" she spat.

Bearclaw looked back at Goldwing as if he was a trapped kit in tar. But then...it happened.

The AirClan cat gasped just before Bearclaw leapt forward, sinking fire fangs into his shoulder. Goldwing reacted just in time and protected himself by AirBending a spiral of wind around his body. He jumped back to gain distance as the flame was dispersed. But inside, he was confused.

_Didn't Irontail ask of him to choose good? _he wondered. _Then why the hell is he fighting us? Does this mean StarClan turned their backs on him?_

Frostfire nodded in approval at Bearclaw's decision and attacked Silverheart, waving her tail in an arc and throwing a jet of fire at the WaterBender with a sneaky toss. Silverheart brought out the water from her neck flask and extinguished the fire. When this was done, Frostfire leapt at the silver she-cat and started clawing at her injured shoulder. Silverheart snarled with anger and sunk her hind paws into the deputy's belly, shoving her off her body.

Bearclaw, meanwhile, was furiously sending fireballs at Goldwing with a series of claw strikes. One caught Goldwing on the bitten shoulder and made him step back, hot sticky blood running down a foreleg until the pad of that leg was soaked with it. He pounced on Bearclaw's back and clawed out one clump of thick fur, but Bearclaw rolled onto his back and dislodged the smaller cat from his back.

_Great StarClan! He's gotten stronger since the last time we fought! StarClan help us!_

**...**

After Frostfire took the throne, Ashfeather, Nightpaw, and Tobias had been thrown into the same prison that Longfang had been put in. Not only those three, but Cavestar and his pet platypus bear were thrown in there with them. But when they were put in the prison cell, Nightpaw had started to do some planning.

"Ashfeather, can you check to see if anyone's coming?" she asked the dark gray tabby.

A squeak told her that Ashfeather had complied and reared up onto his hind legs. Nightpaw could feel him looking through the small barred window of the metallic holding cell.

"See any Tai Kwan cats yet?" she asked.

"Nope. All clear," was the reply.

Nightpaw unsheathed her claws and ambled over to the door, placing both forepaws on the metal surface. She took a deep breath and charged at the door, sinking her claws into the metal and head-butting it. With a screech, the metal door collapsed inward, dents forming all over it. The door burst forward, bouncing off the walls several times.

Relieved by the freedom, Nightpaw ran out of the cell, followed by Tobias. Ashfeather grabbed Cavestar by the scruff, and they made their escape.

"Come on! We need to get outta here!" Ashfeather commanded.

"We will. But not without Yogi!" Cavestar meowed.

Nightpaw and Ashfeather shared a smirk at this, but they didn't say anything. If they had to go and save the platypus bear, then it would be okay with them.

**...**

Bearclaw attacked Goldwing with a rapid barrage of fire claws. Goldwing dashed around in a circle at high speed, creating a whirlwind that blocked the attacks. With his momentum built up, he came to a halt and lashed his paws out, sending forth a gust of air in the shape of his body. The dark tabby gasped just as the gust hit him, blowing him back some cat-lengths and knocking him to the ground.

Goldwing leapt forward and attempted to attack Bearclaw with a blast of wind, but he rolled out of the way and countered with a fire fang bite to his leg. The Avatar Cat jumped high into the air and landed on a column, baring his own fangs. Bearclaw got to his paws and shot more fireballs in Goldwing's direction. He hopped out of the way and landed on the tip of a big pointy crystal sticking out of the stone wall high above. Bearclaw lowered his stance and coiled up his body, gathering energy, and launched a mighty blast of fire at the Avatar Cat.

Goldwing lifted up his front legs, EarthBending the crystals below him to rise up and block the attack. But the fire blast was too strong and exploded on contact, crushing the crystals. Goldwing was blown back as Bearclaw pulled back his still flaming claws and brings both paws down to the ground, creating two large thick flames. Waving his paws around, the dark brown tabby cat turned the flames into long searing whips of fire. Goldwing recovered and readied himself for this new attack, crouching on top of a group of crystals. Bearclaw lashed both whips at him, who jumped away as the fire whips sliced through the crystals.

The golden cat landed at the stop of a cliff, but he had no time to relax as Bearclaw followed up the attack. Goldwing jumped over the burning whips and on to a nearby column. Growling with rage, Bearclaw slung the fire around and continued his relentless attack. But he also got some blows from the Avatar Cat, who kept slicing at his back at every leap.

Frostfire landed feet first on the floor, a puddle of water beneath her. She and Silverheart ran towards each other, their claws bared out and bloody. Silverheart halted in her tracks and Bended the puddle, lifting it up with her tail and thrusting it at Frostfire. The black she-cat stepped out of the way, but she watched the water pass just tail-lengths by her face and cut a few hairs from her head fur. By the looks on her snarling face, she was not pleased by this.

Bearclaw, in the meantime, was spinning his fire whips over his head. He swung the burning tendrils at Goldwing, who was sinking his claws into a stalactite. The golden cat leaped away to another stalactite, and the fire whips sliced through the one he was just on. Goldwing pushed himself off the stalactite with his legs and kicked at another one, causing its tip to break and fall off.

He grabbed the upper part still attached to the ceiling, swung down under it, and kicked off, hurling himself down. Goldwing turned himself right side up midair and slammed his forepaws down into the falling stalactite, plunging it downward. The stone hit the floor hard, kicking up dust and creating a crater. Bearclaw was blown back by the wave, and his body hit a crystal cluster, sliding down to the ground.

Silverheart Bended the puddle on the ground and threw it at Frostfire, knocking her to her side. As the FireClan deputy got back to her feet, Silverheart Bended the water all around her body. The WaterBender created two long tentacles of water where her front legs were and lifted them high into the air, sitting on her haunches. Frostfire leaned forward and leaped forward, releasing a blast of fire, but it was quickly extinguished as one of the water tentacles wraps around her spread-out leg. Silverheart controlled the water, swirling it around with her paw, and swung the other water tentacle down at Frostfire. She tried to counter with a straight kick, but the blue flame shot out was also extinguished, and the tentacle wrapped around her front leg. Silverheart raised her forelegs, and the black cat was lifted into the air, yowling in fright.

Just when it seemed that she was done, Bearclaw leapt at Silverheart with a claw slice, gathering energy before hopping into the air and bringing his paw up, creating a large arc of flame. The dark brown tabby landed and brought his paw down, hurling the flame forward. The arc of fire passed over the strait and sliced through the tentacles, freeing his littermate. Frostfire nodded at her brother before turning her attention to Goldwing, who was limping out of the crater, still dizzied by his last attack.

She set her golden eyes on the AirBender and lunged after him. Silverheart tried to go after the black she-cat, but Bearclaw got in her way, slicing at her injured shoulder. He threw two flaming claw swipes at Silverheart, which she put out with water around her forepaws.

"You fox-hearted bastard! I thought you changed!" Silverheart roared at him with rage, swiping towards the scar on his face.

"I HAVE changed!" Bearclaw roared back, swiping her paw with his and making her step back. Then he reared his head up and bit Silverheart on the neck, tossing her away from him.

Frostfire sneered at her foe surely while Goldwing felt determined to win. Frostfire reared to her hind paws and pushed her forepaws back while stepping forward, creating two big burning balls of blue fire. She moved her back feet, and jets of fire shot out from her pads, minor explosions making her speed forward. Goldwing struck the ground with his claws and EarthBended crystals around him, covering his body with them and creating suit of glistening green armor. He put both paws forward and slid over the ground, charging at Frostfire as he spun around in a circle with his Battouga attack.

Both looked like they were about to collide, until Frostfire jumped into the air and slid her paw forward, flinging all of the built up fire at Goldwing. Goldwing stopped the attack and tried to block the attack, but the powerful attack shattered the crystal armor and sent him crashing into a wall on a cliff up above.

**...**

When the three cats and hawk arrived at the throne room, they quickly hid behind a pillar and peeped out from a corner. Rose and Aya were at the foot of the throne, Rose relaxing at the side of the throne while Aya was playing with Yogi. Rather, she seemed to be teaching the platypus bear how to perform tricks.

Whatever Aya was teaching Yogi, the large creature wasn't impressed. It seemed that it was not only the cats who were not happy with FireClan being in the city.

"It's easy!" the white she-cat was mewing to Yogi. "Just walk on your front paws instead of your back paws! Like this!"

She sat up, balanced herself on her front paws, and began walking around on her pads. Nightpaw exchanged a smirk with Ashfeather, who knew what was going to happen.

Nightpaw flicked her tail at Aya, and the floor beneath Aya surrounded her front paws, to her surprise. She fell forward and the stone wrapped around her tail too, leaving her belly exposed to any attack that would come her way. This made Yogi clap his forepaws together and grunt in cheer at this awkward position.

As if by cue, Nightpaw stepped out from behind the pillar and scoffed, "I knew that's come in handy!"

Ashfeather followed her out from behind, his claws unsheathed and his boomerang in his jaws. Cavestar followed the young warrior from behind the pillar, his claws unsheathed but his face looking un-intimidating. Squeaks from Aya told them that she was startled, but Rose just looked over at them with a calm yet bored look.

"Just take your pet," she mewed, flicking her tail apathetically.

"Yogi!" Cavestar purred, running over to his pet and hugged him around the head. Yogi growled with joy as his owner buried his face in his fur and snuggled with him.

One mission was done. Now they had to go find Goldwing and Silverheart.

**...**

Back down in the crystal tombs, Bearclaw lashed fiery claws downward, sending the flames at Silverheart; the silver she-cat grabbed his paw with her water tentacle and prepared to hit back. Frostfire leaped from the top of a crystal cluster and shot a blast of fire down at her. As fast as a fish, Silverheart dodged the attack and another blast of fire from Bearclaw by Bending her water into a wall. Bearclaw landed heavily on her back with a slash of claws while Frostfire got under her and slashed at her belly with blue flaming claws. Silverheart was kicked away and collided with a cluster of crystals, falling unconscious to the ground.

The two FireClan siblings turned their heads towards a rumbling noise. Goldwing leapt high into the air, kicking up and enormous dust cloud. He slammed his body into the floor, cracking the stone ground, and a moment later, charged at the FireBenders by riding on a rolling mound of rock. Bearclaw and Frostfire prepared themselves for the attack; Goldwing was furious at them for double-teaming on Silverheart and was determined to defend her.

But just as he got close, a black-&-white Tai Kwan cat moved in front of him and lifted his tail, destroying the mound with EarthBending and sending him to the floor. Goldwing wearily lifted himself up to his paws, his ear torn from an early attack and claw marks decorating his pelt. He looked around.

Many Tai Kwan cats jumped down from the cliffs above, forming long rows behind the two FireClan cats. Silverheart had just gotten to her paws, standing in a pool of blood, just as the Tai Kwan sieged her. The WaterClan she-cat Bended the water from the channel and formed a ring of water around her. The water sprouted eight tentacles as she entered the octopus stance, a move she taught Goldwing moons ago.

Goldwing entered a fighting stance and prepared to face his many opponents. He then looked to Silverheart, who was desperately fighting off the Tai Kwan agents. There were two cats against too many cats, an unfair fight that hadn't been seen since the ancient Clans. But Goldwing did not want his crush to be killed while they were after him.

"There's too many..." he rasped partly to himself. Inside, he mewed, _What do I do?_

_You _must _learn to let her go. _Rafiki's words rang in his head.

_WHAT?_

Goldwing didn't want to give her up. But seeing Silverheart being attacked by many cats, he realized he had no other choice. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily and sadly.

"I-I'm sorry, Silverheart..."

He turned around and EarthBended several crystals out of the ground to form a tent over him. Then the golden cat sat down and began meditating, trying to block the fighting from his mind.

When he entered the inside of his mind, Goldwing came face to face once again with the Avatar Cat spirit residing inside him, high above the world and surrounded by the starry heavens. The Avatar Cat spirit surrounded Goldwing in a swirling orb between its forepaws, and his arrow stripes began to glow.

**...**

Back in the physical world, Goldwing's arrow stripes began to glow here as well, illuminating the crystals that enclosed him. Bearclaw and the Tai Kwan cats looked scared but also entranced by this light. Finally, Goldwing snapped his eyes open, which glowed with great intensity from the power of StarClan. An incredible explosion of spiritual power destroyed the crystals that he made around him. The Tai Kwan agents shielded themselves from the blast as he rose from the ground in a bright pillar of cosmic light.

Silverheart looked up at Goldwing, hope returning to her heart. He was doing it; he had mastered the Avatar Cat State. He was going to save the world, just as she had always hoped.

He was going higher...and higher...

Until...

_CRACK!_

To her horror, a bolt of lightning flew through the air and sliced itself across his belly, making him writhe in pain. Frostfire was smiling confidently and cruelly as smoke rose from her raised tail. The swirling cosmic ball around him vanished, and the spirit of a giant cat fell to the ground, where it writhed once before it faded away.

Goldwing's body plunged down to the earth below, limp as a dead rabbit. The fur on his belly was charred, and there was a terrible wound on his back where he was struck, blood spewing out as fast as a geyser. There was even a burn spot on the pad of his left rear paw where the lightning exited.

Silverheart stared on with shock and horror on her face, tears rolling down her face. Goldwing was... _No! It can't be! He can't be dead!_

Howling with sorrow, she twirled her body and swirled the water around her. Silverheart created a large wave and rode on top of it towards Goldwing, slashing any cat that got to her or her fallen friend. The wave rolled over Bearclaw and Frostfire, washing them away. Quickly, she leapt up into the air, caught him by the scruff, and landed on the ground, the water flowing away from her.

She nudged his comatose body and began licking his cheek, trying hard to wake him up. The silver warrior even tried to pull him up by grabbing one of his large ears and pulling up. But the Avatar Cat would not wake up; instead, he flopped down pathetically.

"Goldwing? Goldwing, come on..." she mewed, nudging him again. "You have to get up...we need to get out of here..."

A growl made her look up hopelessly. Bearclaw and Frostfire were advancing on Silverheart and the fallen Goldwing. Just when it was the end, a fire blast hit the ground in front of them. Irontail was now jumping down a cliff and landed between Silverheart and his niece and nephew, going into a battle stance.

He turned his head towards her and yowled, "You have to get out of here! Go!"

"But what about you?" Silverheart asked him.

Irontail shook his head. "Don't worry about me! I'll hold them off as much as I can!"

He leapt from left to right, slashing at any approaching Tai Kwan cat with his flaming claws. While Irontail fought off the Tai Kwan cats, his yowls piercing the air, Silverheart made her escape, gently lifting Goldwing up and placing him onto her back. She waded into the water, looked up to the waterfall, and formed a rising and twisting current that lifted her and her dear friend upward. His blood dripped down to the water below, but Silverheart ignored the stench.

_I have to get him out of here! He can't die! Not now!_

**(Author's Note: Switching POVs again. Don't worry.)**

Irontail dropped his stance and defended himself against the stone paws that the Tai Kwan agents threw at him. The fat gray tabby tom waved his tail forward and flung powerful fire blasts from the tips of his claws. A rising flash of silver told him that the silver she-cat and Goldwing were making their escape, making him sigh on the inside.

_StarClan watch over them._

Now that the two cats were out of danger, Irontail crouched low to the ground, yielding quietly and ceasing his attack. Two Tai Kwan cats Bended a ring of crystals around Irontail and trapped him in a prison of crystals once again. Once Irontail was trapped, Bearclaw looked over at his uncle as if asking him to help him out.

Irontail stared back at his nephew for a moment and turned his head down sadly, saying nothing. He would never hate Bearclaw for betraying him and the Clans, but he was very disappointed in him. Bearclaw had given in to his sister's temptation and turned his back on finding his destiny on his own. As for Irontail himself, he would also be disappointed in Frostfire, not angry at her.

All he could do now was to wait for judgment. If he was to be prisoned, he wanted it so that others could be safe from FireClan. If FireClan didn't go after them, that is...

**...**

_If you hear a voice, in the middle of the night,_

_Saying it will be all right, it will be me._

_If you feel a hand, guiding you along,_

_When the path seems wrong, it will be me._

Grasping his scruff in her jaws, Silverheart dragged him out of a hole in the wall and out into the open. They were at the EarthClan palace, and night had fallen over the sky, clouds covering the stars and moon; rain had started to fall, soaking the two cats' pelts. Silverheart could not bear it if Goldwing had died, and she needed to get him out of the city quickly.

Leaving his side, she rushed out into the open and yowled, "HELP!" Her voice echoed around her as she yowled, "Somebody! Anybody!"

No one responded.

"Please...help..."

Tears leaked from her eyes as a roar sounded from above her; Archie was flying above her, her friends and Cavestar on his back. Quickly, Ashfeather, Nightpaw, and Cavestar leaped down from Archie to help haul Goldwing onto the Asian Lung dragon. At the sound of "Yip yip" from Nightpaw, Archie lifted himself off the ground and flew off towards the cloud-covered moon.

As Archie flew onwards through the night sky over the city, Silverheart laid Goldwing down on Archie's shoulders and took out the oasis water. She was going to use it for Bearclaw, but since the traitorous fox-heart turned against them, he did not deserve to get that scar off his face. He could have it forever for all she cared!

She removed the flask top and Bended the small total of water out of it. The silver warrior held it over her paw and made it spin in a small circle until it began glowing with energy. The other cats watched on as Silverheart lifted Goldwing up slowly and placed the spirit water over the wound on his belly. It lowered into the wound and entered his body, but he did not wake up.

Silverheart buried her face in Goldwing's neck fur and began sobbing. The Avatar Cat was dead. Her friend was dead. Now there was no one to stop FireClan from destroying the Clans...and no one to share her world with.

_Great StarClan, why? Why did you have to remove him from this world! And why did you take him away from us all?_

_And from me...?_

Suddenly, just for an instant, Goldwing's arrow stripes began to glow, and, heartbeats later, he groaned from the recovery. Silverheart gasped and smiled joyfully, turning Goldwing around to look down at him. The golden tom smiled weakly, his dark gray eyes glazed, as he looked back up at Silverheart. Purring with relief, she pulled him to her and held him close to her heart, grateful that he was still alive.

He was alive. The Avatar Cat was alive. _Her friend _was alive. Goldwing was still alive to save the world as she hoped...and to be by her side for always.

_Thank you, StarClan! And thank you, Mother..._

_There is no mountain that I can't climb._

_For you, I'd swim through the rivers of time._

_As you go your way, and I go mine,_

_A light will shine, and it will be me._

**...**

"We've done it, brother."

Bearclaw looked up from his paws to see Frostfire sitting on the throne in the throne room. After defeating Silverheart and the Avatar Cat, the Tai Kwan had taken Irontail prisoner and took him away to their prison. Their wounds were healed, but Bearclaw's mind was still scarred at what had happened.

He had betrayed two cats that trusted him: Silverheart, the kind and beautiful she-cat he just met, and Irontail, his gentle and wise uncle. Bearclaw was worried of how they would react if he tried to talk to them; they would probably hate him.

_Why should it matter now? I chose my own path. And the Avatar Cat is dead. There's no need to chase him anymore._

"Didn't you hear me?" Frostfire's voice snapped Bearclaw out of his trance. "I said we did it. It took FireClan fourteen years, and we have finally captured BoulderClan."

"But...I betrayed our uncle..." he rasped.

Frostfire frowned down at him. "No, _he_ betrayed _you_. He deserves a special place of his own in the Dark Forest. Bearclaw, when we return to our homeland, Father will welcome you home. As a war hero."

Then Bearclaw mewed the other worrying thought in his head: "But the Avatar Cat is dead. You killed him. What if he doesn't restore my honor?"

"He doesn't have to give you it," Frostfire mewed, leaping down from the throne and laying her tail on her brother's shoulder. When he looked at her sadly, she went on, "You have restored your own honor. You are a worthy FireClan warrior."

But that didn't change his mood. Instead, he looked to the side and sighed inside. He would be given the greatest honor among all of FireClan's warriors; Frostfire might even give up her own spot as deputy and let him be the deputy. But was it worth it? He remembered Irontail's words replaying in his mind:

_Who are YOU? And what do YOU want?_

**...**

_In the sun and the moon,_

_In the land and the sea,_

_Look all around you._

_It will be me._

The four waking cats looked behind to see the city of BoulderClan disappearing behind them. It kept growing smaller until it became the size of a tiny flea, inhabited by FireClan and completely corrupt. Silverheart was relieved to leave there; Goldwing had almost died from there, though he had fallen asleep and did not wake up after that.

Cavestar looked behind him to his home he left behind. "...it's over. EarthClan has fallen."

"Rawr..." Yogi groaned as he rested his bill against his owner's body.

_There is no mountain that I can't climb,_

_For you, I'd swim through the rivers of time._

Silverheart sighed as she felt the cooling pelt of Goldwing rest against her long warm fur. It felt like the old days when they were apprentices, not when they were warriors. Thanks to FireClan, their world was coming to an end.

She looked onward as Archie flew over the outer wall and into the dark cloudy horizon. Rain fell onto them, but the moon and the stars did not come out to comfort the five of them. It was like StarClan was mocking them for their defeat.

_As you go your way, and I go mine,_

_A light will shine, and it will be me._

_Goldwing...come to us soon._

_It will be me..._

_**(To be continued...)**_

**...**

**Aang: Well, that's it. The final chapter of Book 2. And this is just...dramatic. I hope none of this ever happens to anyone.**

**AvatarCat12: Me too. And I'm glad you survived on this episode. You really had Katara worried there.**

**Aang: (Guiltily) I know...I'm sorry.**

**AvatarCat12: It's not your fault. NOT your fault at all. Well anyways...let's go on with the review thing and the preview for the epilogue. (To the readers) Today's four years since the end of Avatar: The Last AirBender, everyone. So those who review this chapter will get a virtual plush of your favorite ATLA hero or villain. Flames will not be allowed, but advice and constructive criticism are.**

**Preview: ****After almost being killed by Frostfire, Goldwing finds himself in StarClan, where a spirit gives him a mission. He has to find four of his past lives and talk with them, or he would be unable to talk with StarClan. Will he succeed in the mission...or will Hok the Face-catcher get to him first?**

**Both: See ya next time!**


	22. Epilogue

**AvatarCat12: Here we are, everyone! The epilogue of this FanFic!**

**Katara: (Who had come back in between chapters) And we get to see how Aang went into the spirit world again!**

**Aang: (To Avatar Cat) I told her about it, and she seemed to cheer up a bit. And when she's happy, I'm happy too.**

**Katara: It's who we are. (She and Aang kiss again)**

**AvatarCat12: Good to see you two happy, 'cause seeing you two happy makes me happy. But anyways, here's the final disclaimer for this FanFic.**

**Disclaimer: Once again, I do NOT own both series. And this part here is based off of the interactive game called Escape From The Spirit World.**

**Summary: After almost being killed by Frostfire, Goldwing finds himself in StarClan, where a spirit gives him a mission. He has to find four of his past lives and talk with them, or he would be unable to talk with StarClan. Will he succeed in the mission...or will Hok the Face-catcher get to him first?**

**Finishing Date: July 20, 2012**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_Epilogue_

"Goldwing!"

Goldwing groaned as he wearily got to his paws, looking around him. Four massive oak trees towered over him as they cast their shadows over the forest floor. This must be Fourtrees, the Gathering place where Clan cats used to gather. And he was even on the Great Rock.

The golden cat expected pain to shoot through his belly from the wound Frostfire gave him, but none came. He looked around him and saw the moon glowing brightly behind the trees.

Turning around, Goldwing mewed confusedly, "What...what happened?"

"You were almost killed in the battle of BoulderClan."

Goldwing turned to see who had spoken to him. Then he saw her: a beautiful pure white she-cat leaping on top of the Great Rock next to him. He remembered when she died at the Moonpond, the sacred place StarClan's entrance dwelled. Her pure white fur glowed bright silver in the moonlight, and her blue eyes were filled with anxiety.

"Moonfeather!" Goldwing purred, touching noses with her. He hoped she didn't mind this, but she purred with amusement. "It's good to see you!"

Moonfeather nodded. "And it's good to see you too. But I have something to say." Taking a deep breath, she began, "Goldwing... your Avatar Cat Spirit has been injured. If you don't act fast, you will lose your connection to StarClan and your past lives...and the Avatar Cat cycle will come to an end. You must find your previous four past lives and reconnect with them."

Goldwing tilted his head to one side. _My four past lives? Why? _But he also felt upset at what Ashfeather's former mate said; he felt like he had let the Clans down.

Out loud, he meowed, "But how do I do that?"

"You will find them here. In StarClan," the white she-cat replied. "But be very careful. If you do not take caution and tread lightly, Hok the Face-catcher will steal your face!"

This made Goldwing flinch in horror, not wishing to run into the abomination again. He took a deep breath and let it out, then he closed his eyes, touching his nose to the Great Rock.

Moonfeather rested her lean muzzle on his shoulder and murmured, "Be careful of which cats you talk to. Some are StarClan cats who will help you, while others are from the Dark Forest and will trick you."

Then she stepped back and began to fade away, meowing, "Good luck, young one..."

**...**

Sweltering heat forced Goldwing's eyes to open, and he began to pant as he looked around. He was in what seems to be the inside of a volcano, or a fiery forest due to burning trees around him. Fire geysers shot up flames in various places at various times.

Goldwing did not stop to hunt, though the sight of a plump rabbit made his mouth water. He had to hurry and find his past four former lives...and fast. Right away, he knew who to find first.

"Whitestorm? Where are you?" he called.

He padded on and then was startled by a fire geyser that shot up right in front of him. Goldwing cringed back, yowling in terror at the thought of some demon attacking him from the flames.

"Hello, Goldwing."

Goldwing turned around in time to see a familiar white cat step out from behind the flames, stars dancing in his fur. A big auburn-colored griffin followed him out of the fire, stars in its feathers as it allowed the white cat to jump on board.

Shame filling him in seeing Whitestorm, Goldwing cringed even lower and mewed, "I-I'm sorry, Whitestorm. I failed to master the Avatar Cat State."

"Rise," Whitestorm commanded. When Goldwing got to his paws, the white-furred cat meowed, "It is all right, young one. But mastering the Avatar Cat State takes much spiritual discipline and patience. I learned this the hard way."

Goldwing did not want to argue with the former Avatar Cat, though he wanted to ask what was going on. The serious look on Whitestorm's face told the golden AirClan tom that he had to learn.

"So where did you go?" Goldwing asked the FireClan Avatar Cat.

Whitestorm turned to him. "Where, you say? To the Sages' Temple. That was twenty two years ago. That means this takes place eight years before the war came to be. I was training in the ways of the Avatar Cat State with Rubystripe."

"Rubystripe?"

"Yes. Your ally Redspots' grandfather," Whitestorm purred. "But I was distracted by the many thoughts in my head. Things like my leg falling asleep and hoping not to have toads for lunch. Yes, I was impatient like you," the old Whitestorm added. "So I decided to use the leaf-bare equinox to help me get there faster."

Goldwing could imagine all that as he asked, "What happened?"

Whitestorm sighed, "I was trying to enter the Avatar Cat State using the spiritual energy from the Sun. And I had done it."

"So you did it! You mastered the Avatar Cat State!" Goldwing purred.

"Not quite exactly," Whitestorm told him. "Rubystripe panicked when I went into the Avatar Cat State the quick way. I was stuck in the Avatar Cat State, so I could see my body, but I wasn't in control over it. Luckily, Rubystripe was wiser than I, and he knew just how to break the Avatar Cat State's hold on me. He used some sort of crystal to help me out and snap me out of it. I had more training to do...AFTER I cleaned up the mess," he added with a purr.

When he stopped, he mewed on, "I could see my impatience in your eyes, Goldwing. Do not blame yourself. You will master the Avatar Cat State as I had finally done."

Then he slowly started to fade away, and the last words Goldwing heard were, "Look for Avatar Cat Heavyrose at where Kwan Yin sleeps..."

"Huh...?" Goldwing could not speak, for he fell to the ground, his eyes closed.

**...**

When he opened his eyes, Goldwing could see that he was in a familiar swamp-like area. This was where he had come to when he was an apprentice to see the Ocean and Moon spirits. He began sniffing the air, trying to find Kwan Yin, a forest spirit he had encountered moons ago. If he was in his black bear form, then all would be good for the both of them. If he was in his other form...

_I really DON'T want to think about that!_

Goldwing sniffed the air some more until he smelled the scent of honey. Pushing apart a few reeds, he found Kwan Yin; the black bear spirit was pawing at a bee hive, placing a honey-covered paw into his mouth. Just when the bear took it out and started licking up the honey, he turned to see Goldwing looking at him.

"Kwan Yin!" Goldwing purred as Kwan Yin scrambled down the oak tree to give him a big hug and roared happily. "It's good to see you too, Kwan Yin! By the way, have you seen Heavyrose anywhere?"

The black bear lowered his head, a sign for Goldwing to get on. Once the golden cat sat on his shoulders, Kwan Yin sprang away, his large paws sending up sprays of swamp water. But when they stopped for a drink of water, a squeal made them look around.

A tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat the size of a lioness was dragging a large deer around by the throat. When Goldwing padded towards her and gave a yowl of greetings, she dropped the deer and padded up to him, sitting down and towering over him. Goldwing had to somewhat tip his head back to look up to her face.

"It's good to see you again, Goldwing," Heavyrose purred. Then the huge tortoiseshell she-cat looked quite ashamed as she added, "Sorry about the 'wrongly accused of murder' incident at Laurel Town."

"It's okay," Goldwing purred.

Heavyrose ruffled his head with a giant paw and meowed, "After Battlestar the Great died, I helped the world live in balance. I accomplished a lot of good, but I also made some mistakes."

She Bended up a stone in front of them, and she and Goldwing sat on top of it.

"One of my greatest challenges was dealing with a farmer uprising in BoulderClan. The farmers felt that Greenstar's rule was invalid and that he did not signify their interests. So they stormed the Upper Ring. The farmers quickly destroyed priceless ancient artifacts and buildings. You know, anything that represented the 'old government.' And Greenstar summoned me to help him with the rebellion."

"So what happened?"

Heavyrose meowed, "Greenstar, the great-great-great-great grandfather of Cavestar, told me to crush them, but I refused. So he got angry at me for defying my leader and ordered his warriors to attack me, but I fended them off, snapping at him for defying the Avatar Cat. Then I told him that everyone needs a voice of reason if balance was to stay in the Clan. And if he listened to the farmers' protests, I would help him defend his heritage. So he agreed."

The huge tortoiseshell went on, "After that, I began training a top force of EarthBenders. They would be silent, precise...and feared by all. These cats became known as the Tai Kwan."

"The Tai Kwan?" Goldwing gasped in horror. They were working with Frostfire and Longfang the last time he checked. "_You_ trained the Tai Kwan? They're the most evil and most corrupted cats ever!"

"I thought I was doing the right thing by creating a group that protected cultural history. I had no idea what they would become," Heavyrose sighed, hanging her head in sorrow. "Listen. Our actions always have an effect, sometimes positive or negative...or not for many lifetimes."

Goldwing felt guilt tug at his heart. He knew he couldn't blame Heavyrose for not knowing about her former apprentices.

Kwan Yin gave a sharp growl, and Goldwing leapt onto the bear's leg, ready to go. Heavyrose grabbed his scruff as if he was just a lion cub and placed him gently onto Kwan Yin's back.

As Goldwing got prepared to leave, Heavyrose meowed, "Hurry, Goldwing! You have to find the WaterBending Avatar Cat before me."

"Huh?" Goldwing mewed. "What's his name?"

"His name is Avatar Cat Stormfrost," the tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat mewed before she faded away. "Good luck!"

**...**

Darkness crept like shadows around Goldwing as Kwan Yin growled with fear. By the way the fungus on the trees glowed, the two of them were perhaps in the Dark Forest, the Place of No Stars. Eyes glowed from the dark as they followed Goldwing and Kwan Yin while they strode through the brambles.

A black feather fell onto Goldwing's nose, and he looked up. The same faceless raven he had seen moons ago was sitting in a tree and tilting its head down at them, making the golden cat flinch a bit. He turned to Kwan Yin, who made low moaning sounds as he looked timidly around the dark forest.

"We're in the Place of No stars," Goldwing told him. "Let's be careful here."

Suddenly, a gray shape shot out of the bushes and leapt in front of them. Goldwing gave a yowl of fright and fell back onto some mushrooms, looking up at the cat, while Kwan Yin shot away. This cat was gray with...a polar bear's head where his head usually was.

Startled, Goldwing mewed, "H-Hok took your face and replaced it with a p-polar bear's head?"

"Relax, kid. I'm not gonna hurt you," the tom meowed, a pair of normal cat jaws grabbing his scruff and hauling him to his paws. This cat had a normal cat head with black eat tufts and green eyes. "I'm Avatar Cat Stormfrost. Nice to meet you. By the way, have you seen a cat anywhere? A beautiful tortoiseshell tabby she-cat with green eyes?"

"No," Goldwing mewed. "Why?"

Stormfrost closed his eyes as if reliving a bad memory. "She...she's my mate. Back when I was a young cat, I traveled all over the world, challenging other Benders to trials of strength for no real reason. I loved exciting cats with my Bending skills. Especially the she-cats. I was very arrogant, proud, and boastful. I never thought about settling down until I met the love of my life."

Goldwing twitched his ears, interested.

"We met during the new moon celebration, when the brother tribes would come together as one," Stormfrost went on. "It was love at first sight. Her name was Mintleaf, and she came from the Southern WaterClan camp like your crush Silverheart. And she was the most beautiful she-cat I had ever seen. With her in my life, I decided to change my reckless ways and settle down. She accepted me as her mate, and we were to wed in the Moonpond. But on the day of our wedding, tragedy struck."

"Why, what happened?"

Stormfrost sighed. "She fell into the Moonpond, as if something invisible dragged her into there. Oh, don't look so surprised; she didn't drown. She disappeared into the Dark Forest. Hok took her away to punish me for my past sins. Every year, after our wedding anniversary, I traveled to the Dark Forest, hoping to save my mate from Hok...but I failed."

He fell silent, his head hanging and his ears flattening. Goldwing understood this pain. If he lost Silverheart to Hok the Face-catcher, he would never forgive himself.

"I'm sorry. I know how that feels." Goldwing laid his paw on the gray tom's shoulder, hoping to comfort him.

Suddenly, a memory flooding into his mind, his eyes widened as he mewed, "Wait! I've seen her! Hok still has her! He showed me Mintleaf's face when I last saw him!"

"Really?" Stormfrost looked up, relief washing over his face. He dipped his head to him and unsheathed his claws, growling, "Thank you, Goldwing. My search is not over yet. I will hunt Hok down nonstop until Mintleaf and I are back together."

Then he leapt away and called, "Hurry! Avatar Cat Birdwing is waiting for you! Good luck!"

And at this, Goldwing felt his vision fade as he disappeared from the Dark Forest.

**...**

When his vision came back, Goldwing found himself on a small island with Kwan Yin beside him. There were pine trees around him, and stars glittered through the leaves and pine needles. Goldwing recognized this as the second Gathering place of the Clans.

But Birdwing was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello? Birdwing?"

A swirl of stars suddenly appeared at the middle of the tallest oak on the island. When the stars went away, there was a she-cat sitting on one of the branches. She had a dark ginger pelt with the same white arrow stripes as he, but she had blue eyes instead of gray or amber. But what amazed him the most was that she was wearing the same amulet Goldenstripe used to wear around his neck.

"It's an honor to meet you at last," Birdwing purred, leaping down the branches and sitting on a root in front of him.

Goldwing rushed up to her and touched noses with her. "You too. It's been amazing meeting up with my past lives."

Birdwing nodded. "I see. And what did you learn from them?"

"Well... I realized that no Avatar Cat is perfect. They all struggled and made mistakes. Like me."

"I see."

Goldwing looked up at her. "But I've been thinking... why is the Avatar Cat Spirit a cat in every life? Wouldn't it be better if the Avatar Cat was an invincible spirit that never died?"

Birdwing frowned slightly with a smile mixed in. "I don't think so. The Avatar Cat must be kind to all cats around him or her, and the only way to do that is to live with them like a normal Clan cat. He must experience these emotions and others: sadness, anger, joy, and happiness."

Memories washed through Goldwing's mind so fast he couldn't recall them fast. But these memories involved mostly Archie and Silverheart, two beings he loved very much. He had also seen a vision of all those he had met along the way: Silverheart, Ashfeather, Nightpaw, Irontail, and Bearclaw. He recalled the joys they shared, the foes they fought, and

"By feeling emotions, it helps you understand how precious life is...so you will do anything to protect it. If you were an invincible spirit living on the top of some mountain...you wouldn't have much in common with an ordinary cat. So the Avatar Cat continues to take rebirth in the Clans. And with each life, the Avatar Cat learns what it means to be a cat."

At this, three different cats with stars slowly appeared right beside Birdwing. All three cats (Whitestorm, Heavyrose, and Stormfrost) nodded to Goldwing and disappeared as fast as they had appeared.

Goldwing sighed, "So I've met up with you and my other past lives, right? Is the Avatar Cat Spirit okay?"

To his relief, Birdwing nodded. "Yes. But you are still recovering from your physical wounds. You will need time to heal." Then, as he lowered his head, she pressed her nose against the top of his head. The arrow stripes of the two AirClan warriors began to glow, as if they were going into the Avatar Cat State together.

"Alas, your ability to enter the Avatar Cat State has been disrupted," the ginger she-cat sighed. "For now, you cannot rely on your past lives to help you; plus, even though you can still pray to StarClan, they cannot answer you right away. And until your ability comes back, you must rely on your friends. And when you awake, you will not remember your visit to StarClan. It will be a forgotten dream."

And as Goldwing slowly felt himself fade away, he could hear her voice meow:

"May StarClan light your path."

_The end...for now!_

**...**

**AvatarCat12: And there we go! This is the end!**

**Aang: Not the end of the series YET, anyways.**

**Katara: You're right. We still have one more series to go until we go on.**

**Aang: But if we work hard enough, we'll get to finish it.**

**AvatarCat12: True that. Now we'll go with the final review thing for this chapter and the preview for Book 3: Summer. (To the readers) Those who review this chapter will get virtual hardcover books of this season and Book 1. So read and review! Flames will NOT be allowed on here, or they'll be used to make S'Mores, but advice and constructive criticism are welcome anytime.**

**Preview: ****After escaping from a corrupted EarthClan, Goldwing and his friends journey through FireClan territory as rogues until the eclipse comes. Meanwhile, Bearclaw feels trouble in paradise; were all the lies and betrayals worth it? And Darkstar has created a very evil plan, one that could cost everyone their lives. Will Goldwing stop him in time before the world burns in an everlasting hellfire?**

**Here are the people who have reviewed this chapter so far. And thank you all!**

**Fanfic meister, Kyuubi No Tenshi, The Great Detective Mei, and Ranmyaku Arashi**

**All three: SEE YA NEXT TIME!**


End file.
