The band of wandering Warriors streaked down the hill, watching the buildings get larger and larger until they began to obscure the sky line. Hero's heart let out a little pang as the pale gray metal structures came into view. While in the AshClan camp he hadn't realized how much he missed the city, but now as he stood in front of it, the memories were flooding back.

Before he could get sucked into one, he was pushed from behind and he stumbled forward. He looked back at Lilypool, who had run into him.

"Maybe if you didn't stand there like a newborn kit then I'd be able to walk down this hill properly." She snarked, expression unreadable. Hero's ears flicked back briefly before he shrugged.

"I'm sorry, I stopped to make sure you didn't fall behind or get eaten by a badger. It would be a shame to lose such a pretty face," he responded. She sent him an unimpressed look.

"Yeah, okay." She stumbled past him, claws digging into the hillside. This area was particularly difficult to navigate because of the Twoleg debris that littered the ground. Hero watched as Lilypool was forced to step around a tire that stuck out from the dirt. He decided to hang back a few pawsteps to watch the other cats going. Snowpaw and Swiftpaw didn't seem to have much of an issue and were enthusiastically darting around tires and over broken pots.

Eventually they sat at the bottom of the hill facing their first obstacle. It wasn't much of an issue for Hero, who had been jumping fences for years, but the looks on the Warriors faces spoke volumes.

"What kind of vines are these made out of?" Snowpaw questioned, poking the fence with a paw. The metal shuddered under his touch, chains of metal shifting around each other as that portion of the fence vibrated. Hero noticed Lilypool flinch back for a moment before steeling herself to sniff at the chains.

"It's not vine," Hero explained. "It's metal, you know, that hard shiny stuff that humans use to make everything. It's actually pretty sturdy, so we can climb over it pretty easily."

The other cats didn't look convinced. Hero rolled his eyes at Jayflight's scornful look.

"Just watch me," he commanded. Hero took a few steps back, standing directly in front of the fence. Then he took a running start, jumping at the last moment into the air. His jump got him about halfway up the fence, and he caught himself in the fence itself, paws clutching the chain holes for support. His weight caused the fence to sway back and forth dangerously, but he ignored it with ease and pulled himself up to the top. He jumped back down, tail swishing in satisfaction.

"As you can see, the fence does sway with added weight so I advise everyone climb over one at a time." Hero recommended. "Snowpaw and Swiftpaw, you're the lightest. Why don't you go first?"

It took a while, but he managed to coax each cat over the fence. The apprentices had the most fun scampering up the swaying metal, but thankfully the Warriors didn't have too much to say that was negative.

"Now what?" Snowpaw asked. Hero took a look around their location. They were standing in a grassy clearing a few feet away from a low-lying brick building. Hero began walking towards it, peeking into the alleyway.

"Well I can't really think-" Hero began.

"Move! I'm the leader, and I'll choose the way we travel!" Jayflight snapped. She shoved past Hero and barrelled into the alleyway without looking at where she was going. As she did, she slammed into a few nearby garbage cans with a loud crash. The contents inside them spilled over the concrete and littered the floor.

The cats were silent.

Suddenly, Hero let out a guffaw of laughter.

"That was the funniest thing I've seen all moon!" he chuckled. Lilypool shot him a look. He returned one of surprise. "Seriously, a kit could have avoided that. In the forest you are quiet so the prey can't hear you, so why are you so noisy here?"

They all looked disgruntled, but Hero wasn't going to stop now.

"Why don't I show you how to navigate the city? You'll want to be quiet, after all, and I don't think we can spend time like we did on that fence for every new city obstacle we face."

Snowpaw and Swiftpaw were the first to agree with Hero's plan, eyes shining with enthusiasm.

"Alright then! This will be fun," Snowpaw said.

"Do you see this?" Hero pointed at the trash can with his tail. "This is called a trash can. Twolegs put their waste in them. They are usually in alleys, on street corners, etcetera. You'll find quickly that Twolegs put a lot of their nonsense in the middle of their roads, and that their nonsense is everywhere. Try to avoid it, yeah?"

Snowpaw snickered loudly, ignoring the dirty look that Jayflight sent him.

Hero darted away, looking down the two alleys. He gestured for the group to come to him with a flick of his tail. Then a few moments later, he winced as they stormed down the alley with heavy footfalls. After the cushion of the dirt in the forest, the hard concrete caused their pawsteps to echo in an amusing way.

"Can you try to walk... lighter? Less stomping around?" Hero asked.

"I'm sorry I didn't grow up in a city." Lilypool grumbled. "I'll be in a Hunter's Crouch through the entire journey."

"If that's what it takes," Hero snarked. She bared her teeth in a snarl as a response.

"Anyway! We'll be travelling through these alleyways for most of our journey, so you need to learn how to use Twoleg structures to sneak around. As you can see, there are a lot more shadows here then there are in the forest. Use that to your advantage."

The buildings were in fact so large that they blocked out most of the sunlight. Thick, black shadows stretched across the alley leaving convenient pockets of darkness that were perfect for stealthy movement.

If one knew how to navigate them.

"Come ON Smokewhisker. You should have seen that broken Twoleg thing from a mile away!"

"Swiftpaw, how many times do I have to tell you to not shove Snowpaw into garbage bags?"

"Lilypool, don't step on the houseplants."

"Jayflight, for the last time there is nothing dangerous about walking on a ca-er, monster!"

Hero was ready to give up after a few hours of instruction. He had somehow managed to land himself in a group with some of the most stubborn cats in history, and most of them refused to listen to what he said until they tried and failed by themselves. It was leading to many amusing moments, but he felt exhausted from the effort.

"Monsters are just things that humans use to move themselves faster. They are massive hunks of metal with engines in them. They. Are. Not. Alive." Hero repeated.

"...What's an engine?" Smokewhisker asked tiredly.

"It's something that I'm going to crush you with in a second," he snapped. "Don't question it!"

Snowpaw took in the looks on every cat's face, and he slowly backed away. "I think maybe we should find somewhere to rest," he suggested.

"How about under a monster?" snarked Swiftpaw.

As he said that, a memory crossed Hero's mind. He froze, mind finally piecing ideas together. Suddenly, he stood up.

"I think I know someone who can help us find Whiteshadow!"

Blazey here with the newest chapter! I hope every cat enjoys. @Frostfirewarriorcat and I spent a lot of time planning out the rest of the novel, and there's a long way to go! 

Thanks to helloilovecats for helping me edit the chapter (#Jayflight is now a girl whoops).