That night, Mouse kneaded the cloth of her bedding. Amber was breathing slowly, suggesting she was fast asleep. Mouse couldn't sleep. The images of the wildcats were running through her head and she wanted to fight with them again. Or at the very least see them again. It was fun fighting for once instead of just play fighting.

Finally, Mouse got off the bed and walked out the doggy door. The moon was high and the scent of today was faint. She jumped up on the stone wall and looked out across the forest.

"You!" Mouse looked down and saw the black tom with blue eyes look up at her with scorn. Another tom was beside him, older and his fur was white and grey. His eyes were tired and amber. "Come down here!"

"You come up!" Mouse ordered. The tom growled under his throat and he began unsheathing his claws.

"Ravenclaw," the white and grey tom hissed to the black tom. He jumped up on to the stone wall and sat down to look at Mouse. "You're name is Mouse correct?"

"Yes," Mouse calmed down and eyed the newcomer quizzicaly, "who wants to know?"

"I am Frogstump," the tom answered, "I am ShadowClan's medicine cat and the tom down there is Ravenclaw, he's a warrior."

"What?" Mouse tilted her head to one side.

"I heal ShadowClan when the warriors are injured, warriors fight to protect their clans, we follow our ancestors known as StarClan and for some reason they want you to join ShadowClan." Frogstump explained.

"ShadowClan?" Mouse didn't understand what this cat was talking about.

"There are a total five clans in the forest," Frogstump began, "ShadowClan, RiverClan, ThunderClan, WindClan, and SkyClan, our ShadowClan ancestors want you to join our clan."

"Why they want a kittypet, I'll never know!" Ravenclaw spat at the bottom of the stone wall.

"Quiet, Ravenclaw!" Frogstump glared down to the warrior.

"Can Amber come?" Mouse asked, ignoring the black tom.

"I'm assuming she's the kittypet you live here with," Frogstump guessed, "no, she treads a different path that leads to ThunderClan, she of no use to ShadowClan. ShadowClan and ThunderClan have two different problems."

"Like what?"

"There is a dark place our ancestors go when they've gone against both the warrior code and StarClan, it's called the Dark Forest and there's a she-cat there who's only goal is to destroy ShadowClan."

"Well, I'm not going!" Mouse puffed out her chest. "Amber and I are a team, we were abandoned by our mothers, our previous Nofur abused us, and now we're living the good life together and we always will!"

"You don't understand-" Frogstump began.

"No, you don't understand!" Mouse hissed. "Our parents were loners and they abandoned us! How can I trust a bunch of wildcats?"

"How dare you compare us to those filthy little-" Ravenclaw pounced on the stone wall in between Mouse and the medicine cat.

"Ravenclaw!" Frogstump snatched the tom by his scruff. "Very well, Mouse, you may think about it, but this choice determines your destiny!" Frogstump jumped off the stone wall, followed by Ravenclaw, who shot a look at Mouse before disappearing in to the forest.

When Mouse woke up, Amber was outside sitting on the stone wall looking out to the forest.

"What are you doing?" Mouse jumped up beside her friend.

"Remember those cats we fought yesterday?" Amber looked to the brown she-cat. "Some cats from this place called ThunderClan asked me to join them... And well... I might be considering it..."

"What?" Mouse bristled. "What they say?"

"That they needed me and another place called ShadowClan needed you." Amber explained.

"But we're a team!" Mouse wailed.

"We still will, but we won't be living in the same den anymore, that doesn't mean we can't be friends." Amber spoke calmly.

"How can we trust those cats after what our mothers did to us?" Mouse demanded.

"Okay, how about this," Amber began, "we'll stay for only a few days, if you still don't like it, we'll leave."

"Fine..." Mouse grumbled.

That night, Frogstump came back with a new cat. This one was a light grey tom with a big dark grey spot on his back and his eyes were blue. On the other side the silver she-cat from the other day came with a tortoise shell she-cat and amber eyes.

"Have you made a decision?" Frogstump asked.

"I'll go..." Mouse lowered her head.

"So will I!" Amber looked to the silver she-cat.

"Then come with us," the silver cat turned to the forest, "we are having a Gathering tonight and they won't dare harm you on a night of peace."

The cats came to an island where a huge fallen tree made a bridge across the stream that seperated them from the island. They jumped up and made their way across to the trees. They went through a few trees and bushes until they came to a huge clearing with a bunch of cats gathered around a big oak tree with five cats sitting on the lowest branches.

"Silvertail," one of the she-cats on the tree called out, "what is the meaning of this?" her fur was light grey and her eyes were a piercing blue.

"This is the she-cat StarClan has told me about," the silver she-cat answered, "she's the one ThunderClan needs!"

Yowls of defiance broke and accusations were made.

"And who's the brown tom?" a cat called out.

"I'm a she-cat!" Mouse hissed. Mrrows of laughter were heard and Mouse dug her claws in to the earth. "That's it, I'm out of here!" The brown she-cat began to head back to the tree bridge.

"Hold it!" the light grey tom with Frogstump jumped in front of Mouse's way. "We need you, just as much as ThunderClan!"

"ShadowClan doesn't need kittypets!" a slick light grey tom yowled.

"Yeah, they're too weak to defend our territories!" A golden she-cat agreed.

"Silence!" another cat on the tree ordered. "If Frogstump says this is the she-cat to finish off Silversol, then we should-"

Mouse blocked out the cat's speech and saw a mouse scurry across the clearing. It seemed like she and the mouse were the only things in the clearing. Mouse lowered herself and kept her tail low and still. The mouse seemed to move in slow motion as Mouse pounced in the air and landed on her prey. She bit down on it's neck, killing it at once.

When she lifted her head the cats around her stood in shock, even Amber. Mouse dropped her catch and looked up at the cat that seemed to be the leader. The ruffled dark grey tom looked down at the kittypet with narrowed two differant colored eyes; an amber eye and a green eye.

"Smoothpaw!" He looked to the slick grey tom. "Fight!"

The tom's eyes shown with pleasure and he pounced at Mouse. The two rolled on the ground and fought with unsheathed claws and bared teeth. Mouse bit down on Smoothpaw's leg, he raked across her shoulder and Mouse could feel the blood drip down.

"I'm gonna put another scar on that hideous face of yours!" Smoothpaw threatened, pinning Mouse down. She began kicking furiously at the tom's smooth stomach and he fell back in pain.

Mouse pounced on him and pinned him down. She held up her unsheathed claw, getting ready to shred the tom's face off, but froze when she saw terror on one she-cat's face. Mouse looked over to Amber who lowered herself to the ground, her ears back and eyes wide, full of horror. The brown kittypet immediately jumped off Smoothpaw and let him run to two other cats his size, one being Crazypaw from yesterday.

"Mouse," the leader called out, "you will join ShadowClan as an apprentice and you will be known as Mousepaw until you receive your warrior name." He then looked out to the crowd. "Ravenclaw, Turtlefur was your mentor and I hope will pass down what she taught you to Mousepaw!"

"What?" both Mousepaw and the black tom demanded as he pushed out of the jumbled cats. "I'm not training her!" Ravenclaw added.

"Are you disrespecting an order?" the leader hissed.

Ravenclaw held hid leader's gaze for a moment with narrowed eyes. Then he lowered his head in defeat. "Fine..."

"Amber," the she-cat leader called, "you will be known as Amberpaw until you receive your warrior name, Skyleaf, you are ready for an apprentice." A muddy colored she-cat stepped up and nodded to Amberpaw.

Why is everyone so nice to Amber!? Mousepaw thought bitterly.

"The Gathering is over!" An old ginger tom with black paws called out.

Mousepaw had said her goodbyes to Amberpaw and followed the ShadowClan cats to their camp. It was hidden by trees that darkened their area of camp. Some cats headed for a nest of dried grasses that lined briar walls. Others headed for a smaller version of it.

"That's the apprentice's den," Ravenclaw pointed to the small briar den, "you sleep there." he stormed off to the bigger den with the rest of the clan cats. Mousepaw headed to the entrance of the apprentice's den, but was stopped by Smoothpaw.

"Stay out kittypet!" he spat. "You're not welcomed here!" He turned and disappeared in the dark. With a flick of her tail, Mousepaw walked away and plopped down on her belly and curled up in a ball.

I'm never going to fit in... Mousepaw thought sadly.