This story is a human-to-cat fic set shortly after Sign of the Moon, written several years ago. The quality is poor, but it is a necessary read if you wish to understand my (hopefully much better) sequels to this fic. As of 5/12/15 the first four chapters have been rewritten to a higher quality. However, the rest of the story then goes back to being terrible. I'm sorry. Even so, I hope you can find some way to enjoy this story. I have three sequels to it, Reaching Through Time, Meddling with Destiny, and Wild at Heart. The series will end after Wild at Heart is completed and my final departure from the Warriors fandom.

THE CHAOS CHRONICLES

CHAOS IN THE CLANS

CHAPTER ONE

A tom sat in a nest of moss, twitching in his sleep. His flame-colored pelt brushed against the tawny fur of his mate, who yawned and murmured quietly, drifting back of into the land of dreams.

The tom's dreams were troubled. He was walking along an uneven path of stone, fur bristled slightly in apprehension. The night was dark, the moon hidden by clouds. His green eyes darted from place to place, taking in his surroundings. Something was off. He had dreamt this dream before, he was sure of it, but there was something different...

At last the path led him to a shallow cave. In the cave crouched a scruffy dark gray toms with piercing pale blue eyes. The ginger tom sighed, remembering the dream at last.

"Skywatcher," he mewed.

"Firestar," Skywatcher greeted him, standing up on stiff legs. "I have a message for you."

The prophecy of the Three again? Firestar thought, mildly irritated. He had heard that message so many times he could say it in his sleep. Backwards.

"What is it, Skywatcher?" he asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"It is not the prophecy again, but a warning," the old tom murmured. "I have spoken with StarClan and their friends, and they charge me to tell you this: a new Clan is coming. It will not be as yours, but a new Clan is coming..."

"What?" Firestar said in bewilderment. A new Clan? Was there a sixth Clan? Hadn't SkyClan been enough?

But the dream began to ripple and fade as it did when he was waking, and all Firestar heard before he woke was Skywatcher calling out, "Sunhigh! They come at..."

I see you've found me. Oh, you want to hear my story, hm? All right, here goes...

My name is Annie. Annie Eyre, that is.

Yeah, I know, 'Annie' has to be one of the most boring names in existence. Blame my parents, not me. At least it's short for 'Anneliese', which is a little better, though no one calls me that.

My appearance is about average, too. I have shoulder length brown hair and blue-green eyes. I stand about five feet two inches tall when this story takes place, though I've grown since. My skin is pale, like most people where I live. I like wearing short-sleeve shirts, always with a hoodie over it. Shorts I wear in the summer, but I'm not crazy enough (unlike some of my friends) to wear them in the winter and fall.

I really like to read, and one of my favorite book series are the Warriors books by the author trio Erin Hunter. I love the characters and the system of government, and the plot is intriguing. Also—but nevermind, that comes later.

I may be about average in appearance, name, and interests for a girl of twelve years, but that doesn't stop really weird stuff from happening to me.

I mean, really weird stuff.

How about I start on the day of the field trip?

It was early on an average Tuesday morning when I woke to the sound of country music blaring from my radio. Groaning, I rolled over and hit my alarm clock to turn it off. I pulled my covers over my head, not wanting to get up.

Unfortunately for me, my mother burst open the door, allowing the light from the hall to flood my room. She came up and gently shook my arm. "Wake up, Annie," she said softly, trying not to wake the rest of the house. "Time for school."

After a few minutes, Mom finally gave up and tore my covers off me. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes, and finally flopped out of bed.

The next ten minutes were a blur of clothes, breakfast, toothbrushes, and backpacks. At last, Mom handed me a sack lunch as the bus came. I boarded the bus, and was greeted by the enthusiastic chatter of my friend Sam.

Sam's full name is Samantha Xavier, but she doesn't allow anyone to call her by anything other than her nickname. She is a Star Wars fanatic, and I fear that her most recent obsession with Marvel comic superheroes may become almost as bad as her enthusiasm for Jedi and the like. Sam is a tomboy, easily excitable, very enthusiastic, and can be very irritating. She enjoys talking, and doesn't usually care if the person she's ranting to is listening.

As soon as I sat down and made myself comfortable in the seat across from her, Sam began to rant about—what else?—Star Wars, happily putting on her signature red baseball cap backwards as she did. Sam's mom came from Mexico, and she had inherited her brown-tinted skin. After a few words about Anakin Skywalker, I tuned her out, instead choosing to finish reading my newest book, Warriors: Omen of the Stars: Sign of the Moon.

Sam had read one of the Warriors books and no more, finding them boring. She didn't understand how much I liked them. She had once said, "What's so great about cats? Now, if those books were about wolves, then maybe I would read them." Sam's favorite animal was the wolf, but for some reason she wasn't too fond of cats.

When we arrived at school 45 minutes later, Sam had stopped rambling on about Star Wars and I had finished my book. It had been good, but made me a little sad to think that Jayfeather and Half Moon could never truly be together. One of my very favorite characters, though, was Jayfeather's brother Lionblaze. He was tough, but realistic (besides his magic powers, of course).

"Hey Annie," Sam said, interrupting my thoughts, as we walked up the path to the back of our school where we would hang out until the bell rang to go to class, "where are we going for the field trip again?"

I blinked, suddenly remembering we had a field trip. I didn't tell Sam that, only sighed, replying, "Sam, for the millionth time, we're hiking in the woods around Crystal Pool. The nature preserve, remember? Taking science notes about native wildlife? Does that ring a bell?" She's messing with me. I hate it when she does that, even though she does it all the time.

"Kinda," Sam said, grinning. The look on her face told me that she knew exactly what we were doing for the field trip beforehand, and just wanted to irritate me. I sighed again in exasperation.

We marched up the sidewalk with the other students at our school, Valley Middle. When we got to the "playground," which is really just some blacktop with lines on it, our other friends were waiting for us.

Hannah Cavonal, with her dark hair and glasses, was talking to Genevieve Ingalls, or Gennie, with a smile. Gennie, brown-haired and blue-eyed, was one of the strangest girls I knew. She liked the rain, for example. Sam, who was hungry, went to go get breakfast, so I was left alone with Hannah and Gennie.

As we talked, I heard an angry yell of, "Give it back!" Alex Vuu, a mousey kid with an addiction to Minecraft, and Kyle York, his impish friend, were threatening to kill John Lee by annoyance. The duo, whom I had nicknamed 'Mouse-man and Moth-boy', had kidnapped John's binder and backpack and were holding them ransom. I sighed, and went over to Mouse-man and Moth-boy and told them I'd give them a cookie if they knocked it off. Of course, I kept my fingers crossed my back.

When I returned to Hannah and Gennie, Callie Da'laney and Josh Turner had joined us. Callie was as short as I was tall and had the fluffiest hair of anyone I've ever met. Josh, a tall blonde guy with hair that stuck up vertically and an ADHD problem, had been one of my closest friends in the fourth grade, but now he was more of a friendly acquaintance who occasionally talked with us. Today was one of those days.

All of these people I've introduced you to so far—Sam, Hannah, Gennie, and so on—are all in my school class under our teacher Ms. Dello. As the rest of my class is also very important in the story to come, I will now describe each briefly. There are twenty-five of us, so otherwise I would go into more detail, but not for so many. Some will only be mentioned in a sentence, but those who crop up most often will get about a paragraph or so.

Mya and Mia Roberts were twins. They weren't identical, but their personalities were so similar they might as well be. They were exactly the same height, 5 feet 2 inches, and very cheerful. Mya had dark brown hair, Mia bright blonde, and both had blue eyes, though Mya's were darker. Both (rather annoyingly) were the only kids in class with straight As. They stuck together with everything except ASB, in which Mia was part of and Mya was not.

Alex Vuu was a Pokémon fanatic. His other obsessions included Star Wars and Minecraft. He is extremely annoying and has a very squeaky voice and a mouse-like face. Of course, he wasn't all bad. If you had a technological question, you could go to Alex, and he of course would have the answer. He also sucked up random facts fairly fast, although most of his knowledge was completely useless.

His best friend, Kyle York, was a rather quiet and shy boy at the beginning of the year. Then, after a dramatic unveiling ceremony during recess, he befriended Alex and began his not-so-mighty rampage. He, too, looked like a mouse, though not as much, and earned the name Moth-boy during one of my rants.

Joshua Turner, or Josh, was one of my friends from the fourth grade. He was a really nice kid most of the time, but he had ADHD, and could be very spazzy at times. He hung out with the other boys in our class most of the time, but sometimes he talked with me and my immediate friends.

Hannah Cavonal and Gennie Ingalls were two of my closest friends. Hannah was a skinny Asian girl with stringy hair and round glasses. She was really nice most of the time, but some things she thinks of could surprise you by being deep or weird. Gennie had brown hair and was very nearly my height. She was also nice, though she could be tough with people who got in her way and had some strange interests.

Callie Da'laney is the last of my immediate friends (her, Hannah, Gennie, and Sam). While I was tall and most of my friends were about average in height, she was the shortest girl in the sixth grade. Her hair was abnormally fluffy, and sometimes it's just so hard to resist from petting it. Callie was one of the spazziest, funniest girls I know.

At last, I must arrive to the subject of the midget-y, repulsive Dan Green. Dan and I have been natural enemies since fourth grade, always on the opposite dodgeball teams and certainly out to get each other. If I do say so myself, I have far better grades than him.

Kendra Hunt was tall, Asian, and popular. I had little affinity for her; we mostly keep away from each other. I was much the same with Kendra's friends: tall Ally Benson, short Vanessa Jensen, competitive Kylie Utz, nice Malia Keller, and spazzy Lily Sanders.

The arrogant Colton Parker was the head of the group of athletic boys in our class. He, irritating Zach Olsen, obnoxious Ken Nelson, gamer David Walker, class clown Lucas Martin, and skinny Spencer Finn all were top players during P.E. and played sports outside of school. John Lee, mentioned earlier, was easy to annoy but had a good heart. And lastly, the reclusive Max Anderson was irritating enough that no one went near him much.

There, now you know everyone. Now let's get on with the story.

The morning shivering outside passed as usual; the bell rang, and we hurried indoors. Up the halls we went, chatting and talking like only middle schoolers can. Most of my class wasn't too excited about another boring science field trip, but I had some hopes it would turn into something more interesting.

When we arrived in Ms. Dello's class, she quickly quieted us down and began to call out the names of those partnered together in field trip groups, and under which chaperone. I was placed with Sam, Callie, Hannah, and Gennie under Sam's dad, Mr. Xavier. No surprises there.

Once everyone was sorted out, Ms. Dello led us downstairs and to the bus that would carry us to Crystal Pool Trail.

The bus ride was long and boring. Callie and I passed the time by playing the Alphabet Game as Sam cheerfully ranted to Gennie and Hannah about Star Wars and Marvel. An hour of this torture later, we arrived at our destination: Crystal Pool Trail.

From the entrance to the park, we would hike to Crystal Pool, taking notes on the wildlife. Once we reached the pool, we would eat lunch at a designated eating area, then hike back to the bus. It should have lasted about five hours, including the bus ride. We'd be back in time to catch our normal bus back home.

Key words there: should have lasted.

The hike through the woods took about an hour. My friends and I spent most of the time fooling around, though we did take some notes on our surroundings, and Hannah answered a few of Ms. Dello's intermittent questions.

The lunch site was a few benches and trash cans in a clearing. Most of our class sat on the ground and devoured our meager amount of food. Ms. Dello and our chaperones were lenient enough to let us wander about and inspect the pool while they finished up. It would only be a few minutes without supervision, after all. Surely we'd be fine for just a few minutes.

Crystal Pool was a little ways down the trail from our lunch site. My friends and I hung behind the other kids and were the last to arrive at the water's edge.

The pool was rather large, about the size of my parent's bedroom. A small waterfall cascaded down from a short rock face, covering us all with a light spray, which was welcomed on the warm near-summer day.

Zach Olsen, a short but athletic kid with a face like a fish, was filling his now-empty water bottle with the pool water. I didn't really pay much attention at first, just laughed at Sam's impression of him, until he took a sip and then threw the rest of the contents into his friend Spencer. Spencer yelled in protest and immediately began to scoop water out of the pool to get even.

Soon enough all the boys had joined in the water fight, and Sam was eyeing it in interest. I didn't want to get in trouble, though, so I convinced the others to hang back. Those boys were going to be in a world of hurt when Ms. Dello and the chaperones discovered this mess. And their clothes would be sopping wet for the rest of the day.

In dismay, I heard Mia rush over and shout, "Stop it, you'll get wet!"

"Ms. Dello will—" Mya began, but what Ms. Dello would do we never found out. Dan Green had a lunchbox full of water ready to throw and doused the nearest people to him—that happened to be the twins. In their rage, they got carried away and joined in the mayhem.

After that, all Dark Forest broke loose. If the two rule keepers in our class were okay with the water fight, then everyone ought to be. I don't exactly remember jumping into the fray, but the next thing I know I was soaked and laughing my head off, cupping water in my hands and dousing whoever was closest.

It was great fun, but it couldn't last forever.

Now, it wasn't an adult that stopped our little game; no, they were still back at the eating site. It was something quite different.

There was a popping noise and poof, and suddenly strange sparkly orange dust filled the air. Everyone stopped tossing water at each other and froze, coughing as the dust crawled into our mouth and lungs. A strange tingling sensation spread throughout my limbs. I coughed some more.

The dust began to clear, and Zach was gone. I heard a shrill scream—that sounded like Kendra. "Zach's gone! Where did he—"

Then another cloud of dust filled the air, and another, and another... one by one, my classmates disappeared until I was one of the few left. It only took about a minute, and it was just a few of us still sitting, huddled in terror, by the pool.

What was going on? Why were we disappearing? Who was next? Where had they gone? When were we going to join them? How was this happening—was it magic?

All of these questions tumbled through my head, and I'm sure I voiced some of them—I don't remember exactly. But I do remember, very clearly, the popping noise that deafened me, seemingly coming from the inside of my head. A cloud of the dreaded sparkling orange dust filled my vision... and then—