Thunderclaw woke up not in the comfy nest, in the Dark Forest. But no signs of Snakefang, Addertail, Drowningspirit, nor Flickergaze.

"Thunderclaw..." A faint mew of Snakefang came from nowhere. The tabby tom looked around but saw nothing. He sniffed the air but no trace of the golden tom. Ambushing?

"Snakefang?" He called, his voice echoing through the black ocean.

"Our connection is weak, the land is too far for us to—contact..." The faint voice of Snakefang quietly echoed.

"I found Blood. My plan is to earn the Army's trust, and leave without a trace." Thunderclaw explained quickly. Chilly wind, even though it is the beginning of new leaf blew.

"Good...I cannot talk long..."

Snakefang's low voice disappeared like mist clearing by the breeze.

*********************************

"Morning young Thunderclaw."A familiar mew greeted. Thunderclaw shuffled to his feet although being careful not to destroy his moss nest. His senses returned and saw the purplish black fur of Vulture.

"Care for a good hunt? It's the perfect weather" The first command asked cheerfully. Near the Soldiers entrance, Lemon sat politely neatly wrapping her tail to her paws. They met their eyes and she gave a silent signal meaning that this was a rare opportunity; a chance to prove his worth and trust.

"Thank you for asking. I would like to go." Thunderclaw answered politely, a hard thing for him to do. Before Twilightspeckle had told him all the mistake of being 'polite' he had been horrible at showing respect to the senior warriors. He used to speak weirdly and unusual, but now he spoke perfectly.

Vulture nodded with a smile across his face. Thunderclaw followed the first command outside of camp, along with Lemon brushing furs with Vulture. Vulture purred by Lemon's behavior approvingly, and the she cat purred back. Lemon was being treated like a kit following it's mother's orders.

"We hunt mouse, rabbits, and any prey we see editable." The first command meowed. "Let's see how well you hunt."

Vulture treated like he was an apprentice, but Thunderclaw kept his thoughts to himself. He sniffed the air and scented a fresh scent of mouse. He never hunted a mouse before but surely it cannot be different than catching crabs?

The seaprey hunter crouched low into a hunter crouch. Sand never made his paws heavy and slowly drown easier to stalk. He and his tail slithered like a snake ready to strike down prey with it's fangs. Thunderclaw pounced at the sight of the brown small scavenger making a quick killing bite neatly in the neck.

"Great job Thunderclaw!" Vulture praised in a happy tone with Lemon at his back. The she cat chanted a purr with him her whiskers twitching happily. "Now let us continue our hunt shall we?"

Vulture, Lemon, and the warrior hunted successfully the affect of greenleaf making prey easier to find. They caught a total of five mouses, three rabbits, and two what the Army call mole. The mole looked like a big rabbit with darker fur than a rabbit. Thunderclaw sniffed it curiously.

"Let's eat than head back to camp." Vulture yawned settling himself on the ground. Lemon brushed her fur with the tom's and sniffed the good smelling fresh kill.

"We're not going to bring it back to camp first?" Thunderclaw asked quite shocked.

"Why? I'm tired and I mind for some fresh caught prey." Vulture gave a puzzled look. This isn't a clan, he reminded himself.

"Please excuse what I said." Thunderclaw added than the three cats munched up their prey. The warrior has never ate land prey but it didn't taste so bad. Kits to elders they say NoonClan and NightClan prey tasted gross like fish dung but Thunderclaw enjoyed it. It was like a mix of crab and fish together with a smooth nature taste.

When the three cats filled their belly, their were only three mouses, two rabbits, and one mole remaining. Vulture or Lemon didn't seemed mind how much they ate but it was greenleaf. There were plentiful of prey for everyone and the Army did not have a code like the clans. They were just vicious rogues having a strange way to live.

The hunting party headed back to camp bringing prey for a every cat. But the way live were not so cruel. They all shared prey equally instead of a higher rank cat demanding what to eat or not to eat. It reminded him of MorningClan clearing, where cats shared tongues and prey.

No, back to the problem.

Thunderclaw wondered when he will gain cats' trust. It seemed like having Vulture's will be the easiest way. He hope he has proved himself right in front of the first command.

His stormy yellow eyes swam to the prisoners den. He found a fluffy ragged fur curled up inside. The warriors padded to the poor made den and asked the guarding cats.

"Who is she?" Thunderclaw asked trying to sound like he never saw her in his life. A smudged faded grey tom answered in a growl.

"A traitor. We call her Ugly. She's the most ugliest she cat I ever sawn. Well she restricted Vulture's older and escaped. Than we never saw her again until caught her after two seasons abandoning us. How pitiful." He grunted. The white tom with a brown spot on his left ear, who was standing next to the other tom nodded.

"She's a traitor and I'm surprised Vulture hadn't killed her yet." He made a hmph snort.

"Why care?" The grey tom asked curiously.

"Just interested." Thunderclaw meowed. He gave a quick glance inside the den and met Blood's eyes. The she cat widened it, but looked away after.

"Hey Thunder." Dazzle bounded out of nowhere her two front paws on his back. Thunderclaw looked back and saw her pretty face.

"Why did you call me Thunder." He asks.

Dazzle shrugged than rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Thunderclaw is such a long name."

Thunderclaw gave a frown. "But I have a meaning of that name and I like it. So can you still call me Thunderclaw?" He pleases. Dazzle looked puzzled but nodded afterwards. She gave a sure why-not look.

The guarding brown eared tom shoved Thunderclaw teasingly. "Guess you found a good she cat. Now go eat with her or something."

He shoved the dark brown tabby tom so hard that he crashed into Dazzle who was standing next to him. He found himself landing on Dazzle's side shuffling his feet to stand. "Sorry."

He muttered. Dazzle gave a amused grunt and accepted the apology. "Care to eat?" She asked.

Thunderclaw waved his head side ways. Dazzle just nodded and waved her swift tail to follow. Before they moved on, the guarding grey tom called, "By the way, my name is Flames and the brown eared is Mouse."

Dazzle lead the big brown tom outside of camp. He had been hoping to rest for a moment but kept moving forward. The pretty she cat suddenly mewed,

"Welcome to my favorite place in this part of the territory, I call it Ringing Garden." She waved her tail to a ocean of flowers all pure yellow. They had a unusual shape pointing downwards and their petals blooming to the floor instead of the sky. Dazzle touched one of the flowers with the tip of her tail. With some kind of magic, the flower ringed a high pitched sound. It was a unusual chirp but better.

Thunderclaw used his own stumpy tail to touch one of the flower. His brown tail tip lightly felt the flower petal, and let a small song ring. He did it again to a different flower,than gently swooshed his tail to them. It was a harmony of rings.

"I call these Bell Flowers. I heard it from a slumpcat. He said his furless says they ring like a bell or something. Whatever bell is, I liked the sound of it." Dazzle purred swooshing her tail light as a feather to the flowers. They let a golden harmony heal Thunderclaw's ears, and forgetting the hard life he is in.

"They're the most wonderful flowers I ever sawn." Thunderclaw breathed curling up carefully to not smoosh the delicate flowers.

"Me too." Dazzle purred in reply. Her pretty blue gaze met with his. For a moment they stared at each other, but swam their eyes back to the Bell Flowers.

Thunderclaw breathed the honey smelled flowers. He swept his tail once more, as the mythical flowers rang. Dazzle dropped a meow. "When are you going to leave?"

Her sudden comment shocked the young warrior. Thunderclaw forgot that this she cat can dig into his memories, a thought that crept him out. "Not soon, but I will."

He felt like he should not tell the plan of rescuing Blood. But than, Dazzle a dig into his memories. The she cat meowed,

"Please Thunderclaw," She stared at his soft yellow eyes. "If you leave me tom's are going to order me to flitter with them. You never made me do that. If I bare kits with you I'll—,"

"No. I'm sorry Dazzle but I have my souls mate. And I came here for her." The Army she cat dropped her gaze disappointed.

"Her name is Twilightspeckle. I know it is. And she disappeared and your having a bargain with this tom named Snakefang. Your trying to cheat." Dazzle meowed coolly. She has seen every bit of Thunderclaw's memory. His plan, his soul mate's past.

"I'm not cheating!" The tom spat.

"You are," The rogue hissed as she aggressively slapped a Bell Flower with her slim tail.  "Look from what I see in your memory, StarClan is a place for dead. And you know Snakefang is a evil cat. Your blind for your mate Thunderclaw."

"Your just saying this for your own good!"Thunderclaw's anger raged as he stomped out of the garden. He dared not to look back at the young she cat. Dazzle did not stop him, she let him be. The tom did not see her emotion but he didn't care. But only did he know after, that dazzle might report his secret plan to the Army he's working so hard to gain trust.