Spottedstorm stared at Flamefoot like he was out of his mind.

"Are you crazy? That would never happen. There have always been four clans, and there always will be. We just have to get back to the forest."

"There's SkyClan, though. They live somewhere outside of the forest with the other clans." He pointed out.

"That doesn't matter! SkyClan was one of the original clans, not some random thing a bunch of cats decided to make. I'm telling you, that can't be what the prophecy meant!"

Flamefoot just looked over his shoulder at the trees and undergrowth behind him. "I wonder if there's a good place to set up camp farther in..."

Spottedstorm hissed in disbelief. "You can't seriously be thinking of finding a clan camp?!"

He glanced at her and shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. I just figured we'd need a place to stay and rest while we decide what to do."

She eyed him warily, not quite believing he'd given up on the idea. In truth, he hadn't. Once the thought had popped into his head, he couldn't deny it. The prophecy was clear. They would have to make a new clan if they hoped to survive. It was StarClan's will.

***
Now that they had all had a chance to recoup from the excitement of the events, the rest of the cats were starting to seek out their own clans.

Swiftheart stood protectively over the young WindClan apprentice from before, almost daring something to attack her.

Either she's his daughter, Flamefoot observed, or his apprentice. Either way, they seemed to share a special bond. Two other cats from WindClan huddled closer to them, a brown tabby tom and a spotted grey she-cat. They all stayed close together, and Flamefoot noticed how they eyed the other cats.

The cats from the rest of the clans were behaving no different. Dappleface, the white-and-black tom, and a small shaggy brown tom were all sticking together in the "ThunderClan group", and the cats from RiverClan were sitting side-by-side a short ways off.

Flamefoot turned to find Spottedstorm checking out the other clans with a watchful eye, and to his surprise he found another cat he knew, Willowpaw. She was a ShadowClan apprentice who had been at only her second gathering when they were captured. Now the pale grey apprentice stood alone, standing defiantly at

Flamefoot sighed, his thoughts turning back to the separation. It seemed as if the entirety of the group was set on staying as far away as possible from the other cats. I wish I could do something about it, he thought somberly, but what power did one cat have?

As if reading his mind, Spottedstorm hissed into his ear, "Some cat has to do something to get us home. I nominate you." And with that, she pushed him forward, drawing the attention of the others.

Flamefoot sat for a moment, shocked, before he hastily got to his feet and thought hard. All of the cats were staring at him now, mostly due to the fact that there was nothing else to look at, but he still felt the weight of dozens of judgmental eyes as they settled on his ginger figure.

Thinking fast, he tried to come up with a plan. They all probably felt the same way as Spottedstorm about the clans, and would be looking for any way possible to get home. But deep inside, he knew that couldn't happen. Otherwise there wouldn't have been a prophecy.

Suddenly, Flamefoot had an idea.

"I know this seems like a bad situation..." He started, then winced. Of course it was a bad situation. They were days travel, if not moons from the clans, with no idea of how to get back or what to do. Taking a deep breath, he continued.

"This seems like a bad situation, but I think I have an idea of what we can do. The forest we're in right now is bound to have places to shelter, so we can set up some sort of camp while we figure out what to do."

One cat, a scornful-looking blue-furred tom from the RiverClan group, spoke up. "what kind of a plan is that? Of course we'll need to find shelter. What we really need to think of is how to get back home. Any ideas for that?"

Leaftail gave him a disapproving glance, but Flamefoot barely noticed. He had anticipated something like that.

"Yes, in fact. We as a group would have trouble just traveling in a random direction, but if we send out a few trustworthy cats to search for the clans, we should be able to avoid as many casualties as possible."

The tom opened his mouth again to say some sort of stinging remark, but then thought better and closed it.

To Flamefoot's surprise, the first one to show their approval was the white-and-black tom from ThunderClan.

"I think that that's the most realistic plan we have right now. It makes sense. If we want to make sure all of us survive, we should send out a scouting party to the place where the twoleg monster was coming from. If the cats who choose to go follow the thunderpath and find the clans, then they can come back and lead us there!"

Flamefoot nodded quickly, relieved that someone could explain his plan in a better way. It seemed that most of the cats assembled were considering his idea, and he took that as a good sign.

Swiftheart then spoke up. "I agree. Thank you again, Flamefoot, for thinking of a way to help. Let's go find some place to shelter now, shall we? Once we do we can probably decide who to send."

The other cats of WindClan murmured in consent, as well as some from ThunderClan and RiverClan as well. There was something about Swiftheart's voice that made whatever he said completely logical and agreeable, and it seemed that he was popular among his clan.

***

As the cats began to organize themselves into exploration groups, it was unanimously agreed that where they stood would be the meeting place.

Flamefoot found himself next to the white-and-black tom, as well as a black she-cat from RiverClan with white ear-tips, paws, and muzzle. The tom gave him a friendly look as he introduced himself.

"Hi there! It's Flamefoot, right? My name's Frostfang. I'm really glad we're doing something about this whole situation. When that twoleg picked me up, I didn't know what in StarClan's name was going on, so it's great that now we have a plan of action!

"Speaking of, what kind of place do you think we'll find? The meeting area isn't exactly good for sleeping, so I hope there's a camp-type thing that will be better. What if it was enclosed in a ring of trees? Wouldn't that be cool?! I love trees, y'know. Something about climbing just makes my heart soar. That reminds me of one time..."

Flamefoot could only nod as politely as he could while Frostfang went on and on. The RiverClan cat, who he learned was named Lightspot, seemed to be getting a bit overwhelmed with his chatter as well, though he could tell she was trying not to show it.

They moved through the forest, exploring every bit of it along the way. Frostfang never seemed to stop talking, and frankly Flamefoot was getting sick of it. With a pang he remembered Rocktail, who would have kept him company in comfortable silence, rather than excessive noise.

Finally, Lightspot turned to Frostfang. "Why don't you be a tad quiet now, so we can hunt? Then you can keep telling us that lovely story over fresh-kill." she said, cutting him off.

He nodded, and Flamefoot sighed in relief as they were surrounded by only the quiet sounds of the forest.

He sniffed the air, and quickly caught the scent of squirrel. Signaling to the others, they backed off and went in other directions to hunt, while he fell into the hunter's crouch. Creeping forward, he sniffed his way closer to the source of the enticing smell, and finally spotted the animal nibbling on an acorn.

Flamefoot prepared to pounce, but he was unaccustomed to the denser growth of oak forests, and his tail rustled the dangling leaves of a vine.

Without hesitation, the squirrel took off, and Flamefoot hissed a curse as he shot after it. His paws pounding on the earthen ground, he quickly gained on the squirrel and gave a mighty leap. His claws just barely snagged its fur, and he yanked it backwards just before it could scamper up a tree. With a swift bite to its neck, he killed it, and he sat back in satisfaction.

Only then did he see where he was.

{author's note~ I love ending these chapters this way. XD well, I'm sure you all can guess at what might happen next, but who knows? It might turn out differently than you'd think. Anyways, I'll try to update sooner the next time!}