A few moons had passed since the clan had found their camp. However, Stormclan was not getting on well.

"Cyclone, we're hungry!" Tornado whined. "And there's nothing to eat!"

Cyclone blinked her tired eyes and glanced all around the camp. Every cat seemed to be tired and hungry, and their bones were showing. "Everyone," Cyclone began, not even bothering to use her strength and jump on the high root. "I understand that you are hungry, but I am too. We need to work together to learn how to catch prey here."

Several cats nodded, but some looked unsure.

"How? None of us have ever hunted in a place like this." Tsunami challenged, her tired tail flicking.

"We will find a way!" Cyclone promised. "Stormclan was meant to survive; Starclan has told us so!" 

Typhoon stood up. "I agree with Cyclone. If we were meant to survive, there's no way we can fail. We should set up some hunting patrols and try to learn how the prey around here works." He paused for a moment. "And we need to find out exactly what kind of prey is here too."

"The only prey I've seen is lizards and birds." Derecho stated. "And I have no clue how to catch either one!"

Hurricane nodded. "I've seen snakes too, but how will we catch them without being bitten?" He asked.

Suddenly, Flood stood as well. "I think I know how we can catch this strange prey." He meowed in a strange accent. Tornado realized it was the first time she'd heard him talk since he joined the clan.

Cyclone seemed to brighten up as much as a hungry cat could. "How do you think, Flood? We're all ears."

Flood unsheathed his claws and began to draw a plan in the rocky dirt. "I think that if we set up a hunting patrol of about three cats, we can surround a lizard and attack it from all sides. Speed will be everything." He added, looking around at the cats. "The lizard won't know where to run, causing it to either freeze up or run straight into our claws."

The cats all around him were nodding and agreeing. 

"That's a great idea!" Tsunami meowed with relief.

"But what about the birds?" Hurricane meowed.

"And the snakes?" Tornado added.

Flood erased his plan for the lizards and began drawing a new one. "Snakes live in the holes between rocks, right? Well, I think this would work best with only two cats. The cats will need to wait outside a snake hole--they will know it's a snake hole because it will smell like dead mouse--until the snake decides to come out. Usually they come out at night." He drew two cats waiting on either side of a snake hole. "When the snake comes all the way out, the cats attack it. One cat distracts the head, and the other jumps on it from behind; killing it. The cat who distracts the snake will need to be fast." He finished his drawing with a cat distracting a snake and a cat leaping up for the kill.

"Flood, this is wonderful! Maybe these plans will work, and Stormclan won't go hungry!" Cyclone sounded relieved. "We must set up a patrol soon, so we will have food to keep up our strength."

"Wait!" Tornado meowed, and all the cats turned to her. "He still didn't tell us how to catch birds!" She looked at Flood, waiting for a new plan.

Flood shook his head. "Sorry, cat. I have no idea how to catch a bird like those. They're huge. I've told you all I know." He turned away and padded to the water pool to get a drink.

Tornado sighed and sat down again, defeated. 

"Hey, two out of three is better than none, Tornado." Derecho sat down next to her. "At least we know how to even begin hunting here. Before, we knew nothing." He pointed out.

"I guess you're right." Tornado brightened up. "I want to catch a lizard right now!"

Cyclone laughed. "Alright, Tornado. We're setting up a hunting patrol now. Do you and Derecho want to come?"

Tornado gave an excited bounce. "Yes!" She squeaked before Derecho could say anything.

When Cyclone, Tornado, and Derecho had searched for a little while, Derecho finally spotted a lizard. "Look how big that thing is!" He meowed in awe. "It could feed all three of us!

Tornado's stomach growled loudly. "It looks okay to eat." She pointed out.

"It could probably outrun all of us, too. We need to surround it like Flood said." Cyclone began signaling with her tail for all three cats to go around the unsuspecting prey.

Tornado and Derecho's fur blended in well with the reddish brown dirt, but Cyclone's black pelt stuck out like a thorn. The lizard caught sight of her and ran right toward Tornado and Derecho's outstretched claws.

Tornado was surprised at how fast the lizard was going, and got distracted. 

The lizard ran right to her, Cyclone on it's heels, and an orange paw shot out in front of it suddenly, scooping it up into the air.

The paw was Derecho's, and he quickly killed the lizard after it landed back on the hard ground.

"Sorry! I don't know why I didn't get that." Tornado's fur fluffed up in embarrassment.

Cyclone laughed. "It's alright Tornado! We caught it anyway!"

All three cats let out a little cheer.

"Look!" Derecho pointed at a dark shape in the air. "It's one of those huge birds!"

Tornado watched as the giant bird swooped through the air, reaching down at the ground with it's huge talons. When it raised back up, Tornado realized that it had caught a mouse.

"Birds eat mice?" Derecho asked in amazement.

But before any cat could answer, a small shape could be seen running along after the bird. The shape leapt up to incredible heights: six tail lengths or more. It landed right on the bird and the bird started to fall back toward the ground. When it landed, it did not move. However, the dark shape that had killed it began dragging it towards a rocky outcrop. Another shape emerged from behind the outcrop, and Tornado could tell that it was a cat.

"Wait, does that mean that the other thing that caught the bird was a cat?" Tornado asked in amazement.

Cyclone was speechless and Derecho just shook his head.

"We have to go talk to them!" Without waiting for an answer, Tornado bounded off to meet the mysterious cats in the distance.

The cat that had caught the bird immediately started bristling up her gray fur and hissing. "Who are you?" The she-cat hissed.

The other cat, a muscular white tom with black splotches, flattened his ears. "Get away from our prey!"

"I'm not here to take your prey!" Tornado said quickly. "I was just admiring your hunting moves!"

The gray she-cat looked confused, and her short half tail moved back and forth. "Admiring?" She growled. 

Cyclone and Derecho appeared behind Tornado, looking ready for a fight.

"Who are you?" The black-and-white tom asked challengingly.

"I'm Tornado," Tornado began cheerfully, unaware of any tension. "and this is Cyclone and Derecho." She raised her tail up and watched the two strange cats exchange glances.

"I'm Skittles." The black-and-white tom grumbled cautiously. "This is Monsoon." He gestured to the gray cat with his tail.

"We're very sorry to interrupt this hunt, but you are on Stormclan territory." Cyclone meowed defiantly.

"It's not like you can defend it." Monsoon shot back, looking the three clan cats up and down.

Derecho stepped forward, growling, but Cyclone held her tail in front of him, pushing him back.

"We've heard of Stormclan," Skittles began, in a bored tone, "and we were actually quite scared of the 'brave cats' who moved in. That is, until we found out you were just a bunch of kittypets that can't even hunt!" He chuckled. "We don't have anything to worry about."

Cyclone lashed her tail. "If you won't leave, we'll have to fight you. And we will win." She threatened, her green-yellow eyes showed no emotion, but her rising fur gave away the anger.

"Bring it." Monsoon's claws unsheathed and she growled, looking straight at Tornado.

Derecho jumped forward, tackling Skittles.

Monsoon attacked Tornado, her claws raking across her face. Tornado was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained composure. She lashed out with her claws, managing to snag Monsoon's ear.

"Is that all you've got, kittypet?" Monsoon mocked, "A kit could fight better than that!" She pounced on Tornado and started scratching her exposed belly viciously; her long, powerful legs pushing her claws deeper and deeper.

Suddenly, Cyclone grabbed Monsoon by the scruff and yanked her off of Tornado. 

Tornado rolled over and struggled to catch her breath, her wounds deep and painful. She caught sight of Derecho fighting Skittles, and it looked like he was losing.

It's because we're so underfed, Tornado realized. She forced herself to her paws and jumped as high as she could, landing right on Skittles' back. 

He let out a yowl and flung her off. 

Tornado landed hard on her back, the spiky rocks digging into her pelt. Once again, the black took over her vision, and she passed out.