A young dark ginger tabby tom looked down at the river that was flowing in front of his paws. So many moons out in the world...A ginger cat spoke to him...he had the pelt of fire. And the cat's compassion and loyalty was as fierce as a wildfire burning down an entire forest...

        He had told him about some sort of prophecy. A prophecy about three cats, turned five...He told him about his parentage. He was a clan cat, and he needed to be where he was born. The dark ginger tom thought for a moment, he had no idea what to do. The cat, who was known as Firestar, told him those things a long while ago. He was now a clan leader. He had to protect them, but first, he had to take care of some unfinished business...He had to correct his mistake!

[{19 Moons Ago}]

        A young and agile ginger tom padded through the forest. Stalking slowly as he neared a mouse nibbling on a seed. He padded as slowly and carefully as possible, keeping his tail straight to keep it from brushing any undergrowth. He could tell his scent was moving away from the mouse, which allowed him to pounce on the unknowing rodent and went for the killing blow!

        "That was a great catch, MJ!" A brown and white she-cat called out as she padded into the area.

        MJ smirked, "I'm just glad you didn't make any noise this time, Quake!"

        "Hey!" Quake hissed. MJ smiled to himself and began to walk towards where the others were. They were crouched near a tree in the shade that was in an empty, plain field. It had been awhile since they all grouped up. MJ looked around and saw Cloud. Cloud and Quake were the first cats MJ met in the group when he was only five moons old. They saved his life before he almost ended his own...

        MJ saw Zizzeyelon pad around. He and Zizzeyelon shared the same housefolk. MJ could see Barley angrily murmur to poor Somflow and Echostorm...The group met Barley when he saved them from a wild dog. The group met Somflow and Echostorm due to them being next door to him and Zizzeyelon. Willow was just watching them in silence as per usual. They met Willow when MJ and Quake saved her from the same fate, and dog, that Barley saved them from.

        Cloud noticed MJ walking towards them, "Look who is late again!"

        MJ licked his chest in embarrassment, "I even went out of my way to bring food. Guess I have to eat this all on my own!"

        Quake hissed at MJ, "Oh come on! Thanks, Cloud!"

        Everyone except for Barley, as always, laughed. "Well glad you were able to make it, MJ!" Cloud mewed. Everyone else nodded.

        MJ just replied, "Well I'm glad I was able to make it too. Hey, Cloud!," Cloud looked at MJ, "Anything from the Spirits of the River yet?"

        Cloud sighed, "No...They haven't said a word in a long time..."

        MJ just simply mewed, "Damn...They be really quiet lately..."

        Cloud mewed back silently, "Yep..."

        Cloud looked like he was thinking for a moment before an idea clearly popped into the white tom's mind, "Y'know how the river leads into this lake that the clan cats call the moonpool?" MJ nodded as Cloud continued, "Well the clan cats claim to be able to see their ancestors from there! Maybe we can see ours from there! I mean, no clan cat has claim over the region, so rogues, loners, and kittypets can technically be there."

        Zizzeyelon purred, "You may be on to something, Cloud."

        MJ looked out on the open field they were at with the lonely tree. Other than the others, the area seemed rather quiet, absent of any prey. To which MJ found strange cause there was always the sound of at least an eagle or a falcon, but there wasn't any. It was...quiet...

        MJ just shook his head and turned towards Cloud, "Do you want to head towards this moonpool now, or tonight?"

        Cloud pondered MJ's question, "We should wait till night. The medicine cats or leaders would only ever go there at night, never during the day."

        MJ, Quake, and Zizzeyelon all nodded their heads, since the others had given up on trying to find out if the Spirits of the River were real, but they didn't. They didn't give up because Cloud wouldn't give up. He was taught the ways of the Spirits, even though they never showed in cat form. It was his life's goal to figure out what they looked like, and how to physically talk to them. MJ couldn't let him down now. Not when he was getting closer to learning about them as well.

        MJ looked to his left and saw Willow walking towards him, "You got time to speak in private?" the white she-cat asked.

        The dark ginger tom just looked around for a moment before meowing, "Yeah, I do. What is it?"

        Willow began to hesitate for a moment and started to open her mouth when a screech caterwauled across the group's surroundings. Everyone began to look around with worry and Somflow began to head to the right of MJ saying that he heard it from that direction. Everyone began to follow Somflow and they were running as fast as they could.

        Somflow stopped abruptly and the other looked over his shoulder as they saw another group of cats being attacked by another. It was clear that these cats were remnants of something bigger, and their culture was about to wiped out by this other group.

        Barley yelled for everyone to get out of his way, and all attention was turned on them. A brown tom called out to them, "Who are you, and what business do you have here?!"

        The oh-so-brave Barley hissed at the brown mouse-brain, "You think you can just go around and kill other cats?! Do you have any morals?!"

        Barley did not like ruthless killers. He was born into BloodClan as they were attempting to take over the forest, and the remnants of it when it was disintegrated was when he left them at a young age, refusing to kill an innocent housecat.

        Everyone made their way out of the foliage, and it was made quite clear that this murderous group was now outnumbered. There was only eleven of the culprits and now sixteen of them.

        MJ stared the brown tom down, "I suggest you leave, unless you want to risk loosing some friends."

        Some of the attackers began to run away, and once they ran away, the others did as well since they were really outnumbered after the first batch ran off.

        A large brown tabby tom looked at the group with gratitude, "Thank you," the tom rasped with a deep voice, "We would have died had you not showed up."

        Cloud dipped his head, "It really isn't an issue. I am glad we were of help." MJ noticed that the brown tom's cats were thirsty and starving, and especially weak. MJ looked at Cloud with worry and Cloud nodded his head and meowed, "Everyone, get these cats some food and water! They need it more than we do!"

        Everyone except for Cloud and MJ ran off to get food and water for the strangers. The brown tom stared at Cloud, "You really don't have to."

        Cloud just simply responded, "No, we do. Your cats are in clear distress for food and water. They need it. I can tell they have gone without for a long while before you appeared in the forest."

        The brown tom nodded his head in thanks. The brown tom's eyes suddenly shined with realization, "Oh my- Where are my manners? The name's Emperor."

        Cloud dipped his head in respect, "And I am Cloud and this is MJ."

        Emperor turned to MJ, "Well, it is nice to meet you, MJ." The tom seemed to be looking at MJ, as if studying, "You seem like a strong fellow. Guessing that is what being a rogue is like then."

        Cloud nodded, "Yeah, out here you have to be strong if you wanna survive. But it doesn't hurt to have friends you know won't betray you."

        Emperor turned around and began to name his fellows, "The black tom right there is Carlos, the white she-cat is Frost, the orange and black she-cat is Tiger, the yellow she-cat is Lightning, the orange tom is Thunder, the white and ginger she-cat is Starsight," as the she-cat's name was said, she looked directly towards MJ and simply blinked before turning away, " and the grey she-cat is Feather, the next Emperor."

        Cloud just nodded his head at all the cats and looked at Emperor when he mentioned about the next Emperor, "So you have your own leader system?"

        Emperor looked around his green surroundings, the dirt underneath his paws shifting, "Yes, yes we do."

        MJ just looked at Cloud as a warning to not start barraging the poor tom with questions. MJ looked back towards Emperor, "Well, Emperor. We should probably move a bit farther away from the trees."

        Emperor just looked at MJ with fury at being told what to do, "And why should I do that?"

        And as if the timing wasn't perfect, MJ could hear a ThunderClan patrol getting ready for their border patrol. Emperor looked out into the forest where the ThunderClan patrol was heading towards them, "Well, I guess we should start moving then. Let's go!"

        Emperor's cats started to get up and Cloud and MJ has them follow them towards the lonely tree, where they met up with the others. They had narrowly avoided a patrol. MJ looked back and saw two warriors, one was golden, and the other was a creamy ginger, both toms said their names to each other, they were Lionblaze and Berrynose. The two warriors were met with a few others as they finished their patrol and they began to leave.

        Everyone sighed with relief and they began to rest. Today was a long day and they needed to get to the moonpool tonight.