What do you MEAN, I don't own Warriors?!

(If this were an anime, this would be the part where I go into the emo corner, but this is fanfiction so just picture it in your head.)

The forest was silent as Fireheart padded through the undergrowth, followed closely by Sandstorm, Runningwind, and Frostfur. He stepped over a clump of bracken, pausing momentarily to sniff the air. There was a faint scent of a robin, but it was stale–at least a day old if he had to guess–so he kept walking, careful to keep quiet so as not to disturb any potential prey. Not that he was holding out much hope; they hadn't seen so much as a mouse since leaving the camp.

I guess leaf-bare really is on its way, Fireheart thought, shivering as a cool breeze ruffled his fur. He turned to the rest of the patrol and meowed, "We'll head along the Twolegplace border and make our way over to Sunningrocks. Hopefully, we'll get lucky and find a nice squirrel or two along the way."

His companions all nodded in agreement, and the four cats veered off in the direction of Fireheart's old home. Of course, he supposed it couldn't be considered much of a home, but it had at least provided shelter and a place to live. Briefly, Fireheart wondered how the rest of his foster family was faring. In all likelihood, they probably had families of their own by now. He remembered the kittypet queen who had nursed him when he was taken in by the Twolegs after being lured away from Bluestar. Was she still alive, even after all this time?

Most likely, after all, kittypets have an easier time staying alive than forest cats, he thought to himself, chuckling silently. I'm almost positive there was a cat who was alive before Nutmeg's mother was born. If she were a Clan cat, she'd be the oldest cat in the entire forest. You know, as soft as kittypets are, I have to admit that the idea of a long life is very tempting...but then again, with all of the stuff that happens around here, sometimes I feel as if I've lived for a thousand moons.

When they arrived at the border separating Twolegplace from the forest, Fireheart was puzzled to hear voices coming from the other side of the fence. It was still early out, barely past dawn, and he knew from experience that most kittypets preferred to sleep in. Curious as to what was going on, he leaped on top of the fence and peered over the edge. There, sitting at least a tree-length and a half away, were two kittypets. One of them was a black tom about the size of a young apprentice, and the other was a massive black and white tom. They bore collars adorned by what appeared to be strange white stones from his vantage point, although he was too far away to be entirely sure of what he was seeing.

"Fireheart?" Sandstorm meowed, staring at him in confusion. "What are you looking at?"

Instead of answering right away, Fireheart strained his ears to try to pick up on their conversation. They were being extremely quiet, which struck him as odd since kittypets rarely paid attention to volume control. A few moments passed, and he heard the black and white tom meow, "I don't see why we should have to ask these cats for help."

"Use your head, Bone," the black tom hissed. "We need as many cats on our side as possible. Strength comes in numbers. The more followers we have, the less resistance we will face."

"I understand, Scourge," Bone meowed, lashing his tail. "But–"

"No buts. You do not question my orders, Bone," Scourge snapped.

Orders? Fireheart repeated silently, narrowing his eyes. But that would imply that Scourge is a leader of some sort. That doesn't make sense, though. Since when do kittypets have leaders...actually, for that matter, since when do they go around trying to recruit allies?

Shaking his head in confusion, he turned around and leaped off the fence. As soon as he was back on the ground, Sandstorm repeated her earlier question, a slightly impatient look on her face.

"Sorry about that," Fireheart meowed apologetically. "There are two kittypets on the other side of the fence. They're talking as if they need to recruit allies for something."

"Allies?" Frostfur repeated, looking bewildered. "Why would kittypets need allies for anything?"

"No idea," he admitted, flicking his tail. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Maybe it was just a game," Runningwind suggested.

It was a reasonable suggestion, but Fireheart knew instinctively that it wasn't true. "No, I don't think that's it. They were being far too serious for it to have been a game."

"That is strange," Sandstorm meowed, frowning.

"There's something else too," Fireheart continued. "One of the kittypets mentioned something about having to face less resistance if they had more cats on their side, almost as if they were planning a raid of some sort."

"A raid?" the pale ginger molly repeated. "Why would a bunch of kittypets be raiding anything?"

"I don't know," he meowed grimly.

Frostfur tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure we need to worry? Surely they won't be able to find too many other kittypets interested in fighting. And even if they do, I mean, we should be able to take care of a few soft kittypets."

Fireheart wanted to believe that she was right. Yet seeing the way the two cats had behaved, a pit of doubt lingered in his stomach. They certainly looked like kittypets, but they didn't act anything like the ones he had known. Most kittypets were carefree and ignorant, almost like a newborn kit. Their only interests were playing with the neighbors or taking naps in the sunshine.

Scourge and Bone didn't exactly fit that description. There was a sophisticated, aloof air about them that sent a shiver down Fireheart's spine. Somehow, he knew that these weren't the typical soft, overfed kittypets he was so used to seeing.

"I don't know," he replied finally. "But we should report it to Bluestar all the same. I hope I'm just being paranoid, but you can never be too careful."

"I agree," Sandstorm meowed. "And we should send extra patrols this way every so often so we can keep track of what they're up to."

"That's a good idea," Fireheart agreed, nodding in approval. "I'll pass on the suggestion to Bluestar when I make the report."

With no reason to linger by the border any longer, Fireheart turned away and led the patrol deeper into their territory. A few mice had poked their heads out of their nests now, and he watched out of the corner of his eye as Sandstorm made quick work of killing one. Not too long ago, he would have been right at her side, catching mice to bring back to the fresh-kill pile.

Now, however, Fireheart was too preoccupied with the strange kittypets he had seen earlier. He had been in the Clans long enough to know what it sounded like when someone was planning an invasion. The question was, who were they planning on invading? Obviously, it wouldn't be Twolegplace since that would defeat the purpose of venturing there to seek allies, but that left only two options–the forest or the land beyond the houses.

Let's hope it's the area beyond Twolegplace that they're interested in and not the Clans, Fireheart thought grimly.

He wasn't feeling too optimistic about the odds of that either, though. If there was one thing he had learned over the past few moons, it was that he couldn't count on getting lucky.

But then again, maybe it won't be so bad, he reasoned, trying to look on the bright side. I mean, they're still kittypets, right? Weird ones, admittedly, but kittypets all the same. Surely their lack of knowledge on the Clans would be enough to take care of them.

Suddenly, a sickening thought crossed his mind. He remembered his encounter with Darkstripe just a few days ago when he was escorting Russetfur to the camp. The dark tabby had run off in the direction of Twolegplace, and he hadn't been seen since, which meant there was a good chance he was still there. If Scourge and Bone were recruiting allies, they had almost certainly spoken to Darkstripe by now. Was he working alongside them now? The former ShadowClan deputy had spent nearly his entire life as a Clan cat; he knew all there was to know about how they operated.

If we really are the target of whatever invasion they're planning, Darkstripe can tell them everything they need to know.