I swiped at my opponent's ear, my claws unsheathed, snarling. He hissed, and I felt the wind of his paw narrowly missing my face. He and I were already covered in scratches, and we were both about to give out. With one final push of energy, I leapt at his face and pushed him over. He was on his back, his soft belly exposed, and he knew he had lost this battle. I hissed at him with my ears flat on my head, "Leave," and jumped off of him. I saw the gray tabby cat flee and knew he wouldn't be coming back.

"Now can I eat in peace?" I asked myself. I had caught a small mouse near a twoleg den, and that was a delicious, tender delicacy in the Twolegplace. That's why that cat had attacked me, to try and get his nasty paws on my special treat. I growled in his direction, and ate my meal.

I knew I had to move soon, I had to continue on my journey. I was just on the edge of the Twolegplace, which had taken me a moon to cross because of its maze-like streets and my lack of energy due to little to no prey.  My mother had died while she gave birth to my sisters, Scarlett, Jaden, and I, and my mother's sister, Princess, had taken us in. Princess was a kittypet at the time, and her brother, Firestar, had been a Clan cat. She had given one of her kits to the Clans already, and decided that, even though the Clans left the nearby forest moons ago, she would train me to be like a warrior cat, because she knew that one day, I would go to live with the clan that her family was in. So, I had been given the name Spotty at birth, and Princess, when she believed I could take care of myself, sent me to the place that the Clan cats in the past had gone to speak with their ancestors, where I was given a clan name and some extremely vague directions, and I was wished good luck.  

I lifted my head and sniffed the air. I could smell forest, along with another scent. Dog! I turned around to see a huge dog running towards me. I braced myself to be ready to fight, but then the dog stopped. At closer inspection, I realized there was a Twoleg walking it, holding by a long tether. I took that opportunity to run.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time I stopped running, my lungs were on fire and my heart was pounding in my chest. I looked and saw the forest, and I gave a yowl of joy, "Yes! No more stinky Twolegplace!"

"What are you yowling about?" I snapped my head to look behind me where the voice came from. I saw a fat black and white cat with a bright red collar sitting on a fence, "By the way," he added, "I'm Smudge. What's your name?"

"Spottedpaw," I answered, "And for your information, I'm happy I'm about to leave this foul place. How can you stand living here?"

Ignoring my question, Smudge said, "Spottedpaw. I know! You're from a Clan! You're a Clan cat! Do you know Firestar?" he asked excitedly

"Nope," I answered, "To both. I'm not from a Clan, and I've only vaguely heard of a Firestar."

"That's a shame," Smudge said, "Firestar and I knew each other when we were just kits. Then he went off to this ThunderClan, I think it was. He became leader, and then the Clans all moved. A few moons after, my housefolk moved here, and I queried around as to if anyone knew of the Clans. Some cats told me there was a big group of cats living around here, and I knew, it was Firestar. I always wanted to go visit, but it was too far, and I'm worried what my housefolk would do if I was gone."

Thanks for the history lesson, I thought to myself, but said, "Yes, I'm looking for the Clans, ThunderClan to be exact, do you know where they live?"

"Yeah, there's a forest, right there, and then a bit of field and a road, and then there's a lake with forest and hills and marsh around it. That's where the warriors live," as I meowed my thank you, he laughed, "Oh no, I'm not letting you go alone," he smiled, standing up, "That's a long way, and you're hardly more than a kit yourself. I'm coming with you!"

"No, no, no," I said, "You don't have to do that! I'll be fine, thanks, though!" I had to get rid of this ancient cat.

"No," he leapt down off the fence, "I'm coming. Besides, I wanna see Firestar again! It's been so long, I wonder how he's doing?"

"But you said yourself," I protested, "What about your Twolegs? There's a long journey!"

"They'll be fine," he replied, "I'm getting too old for playing their games, and I might as well go see an old friend."

"Alright," I gave in, this cat was determined to go with me, "you can come."

"I know I can!" Smudge walked off in the direction of the forest, "Now follow me, young one."

I groaned inwardly and grudgingly followed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We were nearing the end of our journey after three days, and I was beginning to grow closer to Smudge. He was actually a very likeable cat, and he made the journey not so hard with a story or two, his favorite was how Firestar went off into the forest. He loved telling about how Rusty, Firestar's name back when he was a kittypet, would venture off into the forest, then come back with a story of a small gray kitten jumping on him, and a big blue cat asking him to join them. The next day, Rusty would go into the forest, never to be seen again, except for a good year or two later, "but that's another story," Smudge would dismiss it with a wave of his tail, and refuse to tell me the rest.

"We're almost there," I said, "Here's the Thunderpath. When you can't hear or see a monster, run."

"You mean cars?" Smudge asked, "That's what they're called."

"Whatever," I said, "Just don't let them pounce on you."

"I know how to cross a road, thanks," he mewed tartly, then took off across the street. He turned to face me, "Well, you coming?" Once he reached the other side. I ran to join him, grateful when I felt the cool green grass on my paws. I only realized where we were when I saw three cats running over a hill towards us. "Oh mousedung," I cursed. We were on Clan territory, uninvited, technically, trespassing.

There was a small white cat, a gray cat, and a black cat. They were all extremely lithe, and they ran faster than I had seen any cat run. I signaled to Smudge to let me speak, and the black cat hissed, "Who are you? This is WindClan territory!" The white cat added, "Yeah rogue!" and the gray cat put his tail on the white cat's shoulder, silently telling him to shut his trap.

"I'm Spottedpaw, and this is Smudge. I'm not from an enemy clan, I promise, but I wish to speak to ThunderClan's leader," I mewed in what I hoped was a calm, not threatening way.

The black cat spoke calmly as well now that he knew we posed no harm to his clan, "Sorry, but this isn't ThunderClan. If you go around this territory, they live in the forest beyond. However, if you want, I can take you to Onestar, WindClan's leader."

"No," I replied, "But thank you. I must get to ThunderClan."

"I understand," the black cat meowed, "You can travel on the edge of the Thunderpath if you like, until it turns away, and if any cat challenges you, just mention my name. I'm Slightfoot, by the way."

"Thank you," the patrol turned away, and I called after them, "May StarClan light your path!"

"And yours as well," Slightfoot returned the favor and was on his way back to his camp.