The puff, puff of pawprints on the dusty dirt on the moon dappled earth were subtle, but just enough for Phoenixwing to know it was time. She got to her feet and left the den. Raindrop was standing silently in the clearing, looking reflective as she gazed up at the stars.

Phoenixwing realized with a jolt of sadness that she was looking for Sandfern, her old mentor. Phoenixwing hoped that her mother, Snowfrost, was watching her as well.

Raindrop left the clearing first, her blue eyes staring back to Phoenixwing. From the apprentice den, Ripplepaw came running out. "I want to come too!"

Raindrop growled in frustration.

Phoenixwing snarled at him.

"I'll tell everyone you left if you don't let me come." He said with a joking undertone.

"I'll tell everyone about your kitfriend if you tell them!" Phoenixwing hissed.

Raindrop slapped them both with her tail. "The whole camp will know anyways if you don't shut up!"

The two faced off, a victorious smile crowning Ripplepaw's face.

His eyes were deep blue, like the ocean. Deeper than that.

The cats walked up the steep path up the mountain, heading forwards. Phoenixwing felt tired, but Raindrop, having made the journey many times before, was fine. Ripplepaw strode along confidently at her side, so Phoenixwing, puffing hard, kept struggling upwards.

Before her eyes, she heard a crack and stones fell, leaving Ripplepaw's food dangling over the edge. Raindrop swung him up, her back straining as she lifted him.

"What type of mouse-brain lives up here, anyways?!" pouted Phoenixwing.

"The rouge kind." Raindrop replied.

The sun was cracking over the horizon when they reached the empty den. "She hasn't been here in days." Phoenixwing muttered.

"Well, where does the scent go?" Ripplepaw asked.

The dawn light was tinting his brown fur russet. He almost looked like a fox. He has the heart of one, after all, Phoenixwing thought.

Phoenixwing took in a deep scent, but smelled nothing. "There's really not much to go from, but if I had to take a wild guess... proooobably that way." She pointed back the way they came.

Raindrop rolled her eyes and Ripplepaw squinted back at the path in disgust. He hissed a little, but the three cats descended together.

"Did you tell Moonstar we were leaving?" Phoenixwing asked Raindrop.

"I told her WE were leaving." Raindrop said.

"I think we should've brought Rivertail too. He's part of the prophecy, right?" Ripplepaw asked.

"Maybe, maaaybe not." Raindrop snapped.

There was a long pause as they descended. Phoenixwing could definitely smell something now, but Ripplepaw took off first.

He returned, and blocked them both. "Hey, what the heck mousebrain?"

"We shouldn't go that way."

Phoenixwing pushed past him and saw the tell-tale signs of RainClan territory. She pretended to be shocked, but realizing that for some reason, Ripplepaw was completely desperate, she ran past him.

Her paws soaked, she struggled forwards to see a half-familiar crippled shape shuddering in the dirty earth. Surrounded.

Before she could do anything, a paw splashed down and blood sprayed the water. Phoenixwing gasped.

Cats whipped around to see the three intruders in the bushes. Raindrop smacked Phoenixwing, but Phoenixwing was too busy staring ahead to notice. Ripplepaw watched a RainClan apprentice longingly. "Ripplepaw?" she asked.

The cat who had attacked Sun snarled. It was a tom, a tough one at that. He stood victoriously over his fallen prey, until a swift uppercut hit him in the jaw. The fallen she-cat sent him flying backwards before running away into the forest.

"She dropped something." Ripplepaw announced, bending forwards to pick it up. The small piece of opalescent substance was like a bat wing, but much stiffer and shimmering in the early dawn sunlight filtering through the trees.

"It's stuck!" he said, battering it around, but it stuck tight to his ear.

It wasn't a piece of bat wing, Phoenixwing realized, it was a piece of DRAGON wing.

Ripplepaw had been chosen.