Flameheart woke up to a feathery wing poking him. "Time to wake up." it was Stealthfeather. 

"Yes. I'll challenge him now." Flameheart rose to his paws and padded out, his chin high in the air. The scornful meow of Gloomystar filled the camp. 

"You! Go hunting now! GO NOW, MOUSE BRAIN!!!" he was yowling, looming over a small apprentice, who was curled into a yellow furball. His eyes sparkled as he raised a claw to slit her throat. 

"NO!" Flameheart yowled. All the cats' attention turned to him. 

Gloomystar turned slowly to him, his claw dropping to the ground. The yellow apprentice jumped up and pelted away. "Who gives you the right to challenge me?" he hissed, his ears flat and his back arching. His fur stuck up in spikes. 

"Swallowwing, my mother." Flameheart took a threatening pace forwards. 

"All cats of Darkclan except for Flameheart! Form a big circle in the clearing!" Gloomystar shouted. The cats backed into a big ragged circle. Gloomystar took a big bound and landed in the circle. Flameheart also took a big leap and landed about twenty monster(cars)-lengths away. "First, I call upon my owls!" Gloomystar called for his owls. Soon, all the owls were in front of him, their eyes filled with hatred as they glared at Flameheart. Only Stealthfeather stayed on Flameheart's side. "Stealthfeather, come here now!" Gloomystar snapped. 

"No! I work for the chosen one!" Stealthfeather yelled back. 

"The chosen one?" Gloomystar stiffened. "The cat who has the power of the flames and the savannahs is Flameheart?"

"Yes!" Stealthfeather squawked angrily. 

"GO! OWLS! MURDER STEALTHFEATHER! HE BETRAYED US!" Gloomystar screeched to his owls, and they took off, straight towards Stealthfeather. 

"NO!" Flameheart took a flying leap in front of Stealthfeather. He raised his forepaws up and blasted a fire sphere around Stealthfeather and himself. When the owls touched the sphere, they would shriek in pain and fly up with a couple of burned feathers or a burned talon. 

"Bear the agony! Kill them!" Gloomystar snarled. 

"NEVER!" Flameheart opened his jaws and blasted a huge beam of fire from his mouth. The fire came in intact with the owls, and several of them flumped to the ground in the form of a newly made pile of ash. Others screamed in agony as their feathers were burned off, leaving many patches of pale skin showing through. 

"Wh-what?" Gloomystar's legs trembled. "How-how did you do that?" 

"I'm not telling you!" Flameheart snarled, leaping for his throat. 

"GO AWAY!" a blur of mixed colours rammed into him and knocked him aside. When Flameheart looked up, he saw a great tom looming over him. It was the loyal deputy. "I should kill you because you tried to kill our great and loyal leader." he showed his teeth, which were gleaming white and scary. He lunged in for the kill, with Gloomystar yowling in triumph behind him. 

Flameheart was so angry. He felt warm magic swirl around him, turning him into a mighty lion. He looked down at the wide-eyed deputy, whose jaws were gaping at him in shock. "DIE!" he roared, slamming a paw on his spine. There was a blood-curdling crunch, then silence. 

"You killed my loyal deputy!" Gloomystar growled. He leaped for his neck. 

"No!" Flameheart gasped as he felt the sharp points of his teeth pierce his neck skin. He waited for him to appear to Starclan. 

"What?" he heard Gloomystar's outraged screech. "Why can't I bite him?" 

"Probably because of my mane, I guess." Flameheart opened his eyes and lunged. When Gloomystar dodged, he lashed out with his forepaws and caught him by the chin. Gloomystar reeled backwards and bonked his broad head on the rock. He stumbled up, dazed, but his eyes were still determined to murder Flameheart. But he didn't notice danger coming. Stealthfeather let out an ear-piercing squawk and grabbed Gloomystar by his shoulders and began to lift him up. When they were in the air, Stealthfeather shook him hard, and Gloomystar's shriek covered the forest. Flameheart lunged up, took Gloomystar from Stealthfeather, and used his firepower to roast Gloomystar to ash. A pile of ash stood crumbling before him. 

Silence filled the clearing. 

"Way to go!" Stealthfeather cheered. 

The clearing exploded into shouts. "Hooray!" "We have a new leader!" "Gloomystar and his deputy are finally dead!" 

"Okay! Now my name is Flamestar!" Flameheart turned to a cat and was flanked by the cats, who were chanting his name. 

"Let's head for the Starpool!" Mintwhisker padded over, her eyes bright. 

"Sure!" Flameheart purred. He was going to be a leader, and he had defeated Gloomystar!