Flickerpaw wandered around this strange forest, not knowing which way he had come from. He made a solid den out of the resources he had, just like the ones back at camp. With a pang of sadness, he realized he wouldn't get home in time for his assessment. He made a second nest, just in case someone else stopped by. He put his head into the nest and fell asleep. 

 Many moons later, he was still in this forest. Nobody had found him, nobody lived here, and nobody cared. Flickerpaw had made more nests, there were six now. He was out exploring when he heard a voice.

"Fox dung!" The first voice said. "I could have caught that mouse, if I had leaped faster." Some other sounds of sympathy came from the others.

"You did good, White! Nobody's perfect, you know." A second one purred.

"Yeah, well, I suppose I shouldn't have made so much noise," The one they called White admitted. "Ah, whatever. We'll find other prey." Flickerpaw moved forward, but accidentally stepped on a twig. Mouse dung! They'll notice me for sure. He thought.

"Who's there!" White snarled, pinning her ears and fur bristling. The other two hurried behind her, scuffling their feet around. Flickerpaw wasn't scared. He was a warrior! He stepped out of his hiding spot, and standing tall, he faced them. They were scrawny little things; about the same size as Flickerpaw himself. He guessed that White was their leader, but it was rouges.

"What are you doing here?" The burly tom asked. "Why are you wandering here?" Flickerpaw looked at them all, and then spotted her. White.

"I live in these woods, and I want to know what you are doing here." He said boldly, standing up to his full height. The big tom chuckled in amusement.

"Simply looking for food and shelter," White mewed. "We haven't seen you around before." Her eyes examined Flickerpaw like he was a RiverClan warrior she was trying to ambush. When White realized Flickerpaw wasn't going to speak, she introduced themselves.

"As you know already, I am White.  The black and white tom over there is Tux." Tux lifted his paw, and smoothed his head fur down, just like Cinderkit did. "The black ghost tabby over there is Captain." White pointed with her strikingly white paw over to where a cat was basking in the sun. "And the big guy right here is Pyro." Pyro dipped his head. "We came from Twolegplace, but we escaped." White called back her crew over to him and they carefully stepped over any debris laying in their way.

"I come from the deep forest. I got lost one day out here and I never found the way back." He glanced at the rouges. Their expressions had softened with bright sympathy, even White.

"My name is Flickerpaw."