Now named Tigerstar, he had returned from the Moonstone after receiving his nine lives from StarClan, though they were reluctant to give them his lives. He had been waiting for this moment to come for many moons and now he felt smug about his own achievement. He had already chosen Longtail as his faithful deputy of ThunderClan even though he didn't really care much for him.

Fireheart looked up at his new leader, standing next to Greystripe and Tigerstar's former apprentice, Ravenflight, whom he had despised for showing weakness and not any good skills in fighting. Ravenflight looked up at the new ThunderClan leader, his eyes wide with fear as his legs shook from beneath him.

Tigerstar knew he had witnessed him murdering Redtail at Sunningrocks just before Fireheart had come to the Clans. Ravenflight definitely knew what Tigerstar could be capable of unlike the rest of his Clanmates. To him, Tigerstar was nothing more than a cold-blooded murderer while to his Clanmates, they saw his facade as a strong and loyal warrior, fiercely sticking to the warrior code.

"Let all cats gather beneath the Highrock," Tigerstar yowled loudly. His call made cats gather below the rock as he stood pridefully on it, looking down at them as if they were his prey.

"We better go and gather." Tigerstar's ear twitched as he heard Graystripe mew to Fireheart and Sandstorm. Fireheart seemed slightly reluctant to but eventually he did. The ginger tom, his pelt turned almost like fire under the sunlight, settled next to Sandstorm.

"It is a shame that our brave and loyal leader, Bluestar, died. Now we will continue to honour Bluestar's leadership through mine. I will protect and guide every cat in ThunderClan no matter what hardships we may face, as I am your new leader, and ThunderClan will never crumble."

Tigerstar found his gaze setting onto Swiftpaw, Longtail's apprentice. He should become a warrior. If I want more followers to be blinded, then I must ensure they want to be like me if I treat them the way they want to be, he thought. "Swiftpaw, come up here. I will start off my leadership by naming this apprentice a warrior like he deserves."

Swiftpaw's gaze glittered with happiness after he gave a look of surprise. Longtail gave a nod to him, looking proud of both himself and his apprentice whom he had a close bond with. As if Tigerstar had already called him up, Swiftpaw decided to head towards him.

"From what I have seen, this apprentice has proven he can be made a warrior with his skill. Swiftpaw,do you promise to protect your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Immediately, Swiftpaw answered while puffing out his chest fur, "I do!"

"Then I, Tigerstar, leader of ThunderClan, look up to StarClan to look down upon this apprentice. He has learnt all the ways of your noble code and is ready to become a warrior. Swiftpaw, from this day on you will be known as Swiftshadow. StarClan honours your courage and bravery and welcomes you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

"Swiftshadow! Swiftshadow!" the Clan began chanting in unison. Swiftshadow looked pleased while Brightpaw didn't. Cloudpaw gave a look of jealousy before he started to talk to the ginger-patched she-cat.

If I made Cloudpaw a warrior, then he could help me get rid of Fireheart if I showed a little bit of kindness to him. "Cloudpaw."

The white apprentice's blue gaze brightened and he immediately bounded next to Swiftshadow, showing nothing more than the excitement he couldn't contain. "Cloudpaw, you will be known as Cloudtail."

"Cloudtail! Cloudtail!"

"Also, I hereby rename ThunderClan as TigerClan," Tigerstar announced as soon as the chanting died out. Swiftshadow and Cloudtail went back to their original places. "We will forever be remembered as the Clan that have the strength of the ancient Clan, and it has come to my mind TigerClan would be better as a name rather than ThunderClan."

"You can't do that!" Whitestorm protested. "We take pride in being called ThunderClan. That's what we've always been called ever since it started. Why should we change that now? I see no shame in being known as a ThunderClan cat rather than a TigerClan cat."

"But if we were to be ThunderClan, we would not be thought of as strong as a TigerClan warrior," Tigerstar answered, feeling the tip of his tail beginning to twitch.

"Tigerstar's the leader," Longtail meowed, seeming to accept Tigerstar's new announcement. "We should let him name our Clan whatever he wants. You can't argue against your leader's words, can you? A loyal warrior listens and respects their leader's decisions."

"What will do you about strays?" questioned Mousefur. "Will you give them shelter like Bluestar did?"

"That is a good question, Mousefur, and one our Clan deserves an answer to," Tigerstar purred. "I am glad you asked that. Well, we are a Clan that sticks to the warrior code. I will not betray my ancestors by allowing strays in. We are a Clan of warrior blood, not kittypet or any other kind of blood. I will not allow outsiders to set a paw in our ranks."

"What about Fireheart and Cloudtail?" Dustpelt questioned. He casted a sideways glance at Fireheart, almost giving the impression he may have invited even more kittypets to join the Clan.

"We will wait until action takes place," Tigerstar decided. "I will have thought of a plan on what to do with them by then. Now I would like to establish some new rules. For one, all trespassers as well as strays will be attacked or killed if needed. You must also do as I tell you if you want a place here. I am your leader and I will not be undermined by any cat." His gaze rested onto Fireheart for a few heartbeats. Fireheart's fur bristled slightly.

You will never be safe in TigerClan, Fireheart. You will never be welcomed here. "If any cats disobey these two additional rules, there will be serious consequences. I would not want any cat to know unless they do decide they can go against my words." Though no cat protested, Tigerstar saw them casting glances at each other.

He then flicked his tail to tell them the Clan meeting was now over. They all began to walk back to their duties they had been trying to carry out when he had returned.

"I can't believe Tigerstar would rename ThunderClan!" Sandstorm exclaimed. "I saw nothing wrong with being a ThunderClan cat! How dare Tigerstar decide to change our Clan name without a good enough reason!"

Fireheart let out a sigh. He then noticed Ravenflight walked with his head hanging low and his tail drooping behind him. Suddenly feeling worried and concerned about his friend, he asked, "Ravenflight, are you okay?"

Ravenflight jumped, his fur standing on end as he whipped around, his eyes wide with fear. "I--I'm fine," he stuttered slightly. "It's nothing."

Fireheart always felt sorry for the black tom. He had always stuttered and jumped as if he expected something bad to happen to him at that moment. Though Fireheart didn't seem too convinced, he didn't want to make the tom feel any more nervous. Ravenflight looked behind him and froze to the ground as he saw Tigerstar's amber gaze glaring at him as he stood next to Darkstripe and Longtail.

"You four!" Longtail called after them, picking up a pace as he headed towards them. "Tigerstar wants you four on a border patrol together. He says that you must make new scent markers in ShadowClan's territory to show them we still mark our borders. Tigerstar will know if you have done it or not and will punish you severely. If you can even do it, kittypet."

The deputy sneered as he fixed his gaze onto Fireheart, showing hostility and no kindness. "Oh, and Tigerstar will issue out a punishment if you fail to do your duty. I know how hard it must be for a kittypet to do warrior stuff." The cream tom turned and began trotting back to his leader and friend.

"Tigerstar will punish us?" Sandstorm sounded confused. "But we wouldn't have done anything! Has leadership made him turn mouse-brained already?"

"I expected Tigerstar to be wiser than an elder," Graystripe put in. "I never thought there would be a day when he'd turn into a mouse-brain."

"Let's go," Fireheart decided. "Tigerstar will be mad if we don't get this done."

* * *

"I . . . I think someone cat is watching us," Ravenflight replied slowly, looking around several times. Fireheart paused and looked around, seeing nothing shifty among the bushes and trees that surrounded them.

"I can't see anything, Ravenflight," he reported at last. Ravenflight opened his mouth to say something but remained silent, letting out a sigh instead as he hung his head.

"I guess I was thinking of that. . ." he replied.

"Ravenflight?" Fireheart meowed. The black tom still proceeded ahead and seemed too lost in his own thoughts to have heard the ginger warrior say his name. "Ravenflight. . .?"

"Yes, Fireheart?" Ravenflight looked over his shoulder at him as he set a pawstep onto the Thunderpath. Suddenly Fireheart could hear a distant rumble along the path as he had approached his Clanmate.

Remaining still, he set all his attention and hearing onto the noise. "Monster!" he then yowled as he saw dust flying as a monster roared down the path and tried eating it. "Run!" He ran back to the patch of grass and then turned around as Ravenflight still remained on the path. "Ravenflight! Run!"

Despite his calls, Ravenflight remained still and froze himself to the ground. His paws trembled beneath him as his ears flattened and his eyes stretched back. He seemed too terrified to try moving out of the way. "Ravenflight!" Fireheart yowled louder. "Run!"

The tom still didn't seem to hear him. A yowl broke out followed by a loud thud as dust clouded Fireheart's sight. The cloud eventually rolled away once the monster's roaring grew distant, and all that lay on the Thunderpath was Ravenflight and blood.

"Ravenflight!" Fireheart screeched, running to the body. "Graystripe, get Cinderpelt!" The long-haired tom nodded and began darting away. Sandstorm went up to Fireheart and stared down at Ravenflight wide-eyed and in shock.

Looking out to the bushes deeper into TigerClan's territory, Fireheart found his gaze locking with a set of eyes that peered through some bushes. He tried to detect a pelt but the eyes disappeared into the darkness before he could make out anything. Ravenflight must have been right; a cat had been watching them all along.