Description: Coyotestar- Leader of Tidalclan, will face a perilous leadership. She is a young cat, and young cats make mistakes. But she will learn from them. After no longer being able to thrive in the old territory's, the clans have had to flee, they've settled in. Things are somewhat peaceful, besides Aspenclan constantly moving and expanding their territory. But soon, Coyotestar and the other leaders start to realize.... they're not alone. Creatures in the shadow's threaten to pounce and take everything the clans have worked for, in one fell swoop. They've already begun. Coyotestar must fight as hard as she can before her clan, and everything she loves, is ripped away by savage claws.

Ivykit purred in amusement, then crashed into another cat. She looked up, "S-sorry... M-m-m-mudstone" She stammered, recognizing her father's unfriendly amber eyes. 'He's not your father anymore' She reminded herself. "Don't be sorry little one." He purred and licked her ear. She stumbled back, a bit scared. He obviously didn't like that and frowned. "Get away from my daughter." Fawnstripe growled from behind Ivykit. Ivykit had never seen her mother so angry. "Are you going to make me?" Mudstone growled and took a step closer to Ivykit. Fawnstripe let out a warning hiss and unsheathed her claws. "She shouldn't have to!" Stormshadow growled and took to Fawnstripe's side, "She's a queen and you should treat her with respect." Ivykit ran over to Mousekit and crouched beside her brother. One of the oldest elder's in TidalClan herded them over to the elders den, "Don't worry little one's, I'll tell you a story and when I'm done, it'll all be over." He promised. They settled down in his nest.

"When I was a youngin," Rory began, "Oh don't give me that look Sparrowsong, I was young once! Believe it or not." Ivykit and Mousekit laughed, Rory flicked his tail, pleased and went on, "I was hunting, see I'd been tracking this rabbit in the lands that now belong to Moonclan, it thought it was SO sneaky and could get away. But I would prove it wrong. Little did I know I wasn't the only hunter in the area. There was a fox, the biggest one you'd ever see!" "Oh no!" Ivykit gasped, "What did you do?" "Well it tried to sneak up on me, scared off the rabbit, that made me mad, so I did what any sensible cat would do-" "Run?" Sparrowsong suggested from her nest. "Nope!" Rory shook his head, "I was going to teach that fox that I was no prey. It opened it's huge jaws and tried to swallow me whole! But I climbed out of it's mouth and stomped on it's foot so hard the moon must've heard it's wail! It ran away but I wasn't done with it, I followed it and attacked again biting down on it's tail and dragging it backw

"It whirled around to bite me but I was too fast, and I threw it up into the sky! The thing seemed to forget that it had paws and landed right on it's back!" Rory exclaimed. Sparrowsong purred in amusement at the kit's astonished faces, "Don't get any bright ideas, you hear me kits?" "Oh we won't" Mousekit giggled. "Don't worry, foxes don't live by the ocean." Rory reminded the old she-cat. Ivykit laughed, there was nothing better than listening to one of Rory's stories. Suddenly Rory's friendly expression changed to anger. He stood up and nudged Ivykit and Mousekit behind him. Ivykit spotted Mudstone at the den entrance. "Relax, I'm just here to see my kits." Mudstone promised. "You made your choice!" Mousespots hissed and stood up stiffly. "You gave up all rights to see these kits when you chose Pricklerose." Rory snarled. "Shut it! You have no power over me" Mudstone advanced towards Rory, "You're not even a true clan cat!" "At least he acts like one!" Sparrowsong hissed.

Mudstone shoved Rory aside and picked up Ivykit in his jaws, Mousekit followed him out of the den. Ivykit was set down by the scouts den and Mudstone layed down next to her. He began to give her a wash when Ivykit gasped, Stormshadow had leaped and landed right ontop of Mudstone's back. Mudstone leaped to his paws and whirled to face his attacker. Stormshadow was ready and batted his face with her claws unsheathed. He reared up and she crouched down, and sprang pushing Mudstone on his back and pinning him. By now the whole clan was watching in astonishment. Coyotestar sat calmly ontop of Oyster Rock, ready to intervene if necessary. Stormshadow dug her claws into Mudstone's throat and lifted a paw ready to deliver the killing blow. "Control yourself!" Coyotestar gasped. "Kill him!" Fawnstripe hissed. Pricklerose flung herself at Stormshadow and heaved her off of Mudstone. "Stop it you three!" Emmapaw stumbled out of the med den, "Clanmates fighting clanmates! Starclan will be displeased!"

"Stay out of this kittypet!" Mudstone hissed he rolled to his paws and leaped at Stormshadow, pinning her. "You shoud've killed me when you had the chance, I won't give you that choice!" He sliced his paw down and stopped when Coyotestar let out a yowl. Ivykit froze, would Coyotestar drive him out of the clan? Where would he go? Instead Coyotestar leaped down, in her eyes showed rage, "Mudstone." She growled, "There's kits watching. If you kill her, you'll loose your scout name and place in the clan" Mudstone narrowed his eyes, then got off Stormshadow and stomped out of the camp. Pricklerose started after him, "Leave him, we have other matters to deal with, for instance the loners' joining us." Coyotestar turned to address the rest of the clan, "I want you to treat the loners' like clanmates. I will lead a patrol to gather them. Any volunteer's to go?" "I'll go." Palefrost stood up and licked his chest.

"As will I," Mousespots meowed, Ivykit had forgotten Mousespots was a scout, she still slept in the elder's den, this was all too confusing to Ivykit. "I'll go," Sandblood and Foxfire walked up to join the patrol. When the patrol set off, Ivykit ran over to her brother. He was busy studying his paws, "Hey," She said, "Is everything okay?" "No. Mom hates me." Mousekit looked like he was trying to fight away tears, "It's because I look like Mudstone." "Mom... loves you... in her own way." Ivykit meowed unsure of herself. "She has an odd way of showing it." Mousekit growled. "Come on, let's go talk to her." Ivykit mewed, he got up and followed her towards Fawnstripe who was staring at a shell. "Mom, do you love me?" Mousekit asked. Fawnstripe hesitated, then curled around him and pulled him and Ivykit close. Finally, she answered, "I do love you. More than anything, but you look so much like him, and it hurts. But I will always be here for you and love you fiercely as any mother would."

Ivykit watched a tear fall down from her mother's face, and it landed on her muzzle. Ivykit stared at the tear for a moment and then brushed it off with a paw. She breathed in her mother's scent and caught something else, 'Wavekit?' She thought and sniffed again, she could faintly smell her dead brother's scent in her mother's fur. She smiled and purred quietly. Fawnstripe brushed the tears from her face and stood up, "Now go get yourselves cleaned up, we'll have visitors soon." Ivykit and Mousekit ran over to the training pool and jumped in, Ivykit loved the water and had learned to swim quickly. Mousekit had taken longer but still enjoyed swimming as much as she did. After making sure Ivykit's fur was clean, she slid out of the pool and shook her wet pelt. Mousekit did the same and drenched Ivykit. "Hey!" She yelped and leaped away.

Mousekit laughed and leaped onto one of the smooth rocks beside the training pool, these rocks were used by the elders who wanted to lay in the sunlight or by cats who were drying off after swimming in the pools. Ivykit joined her brother and licked her paws. Rustling at the camp entrance made her look up, Coyotestar and the rest of the patrol entered the camp, along with three new cats with a strange salty scent. Coyotestar leaped onto the Oyster Rock and summoned the clan with a yowl. "Cats of Tidalclan, we have a history of taking in cats who are in need of help. We will not turn away these cats," She meowed, "Nova, do you accept our ways and are you willing to be loyal and true to your new clan?" "Yes, I just want my kits to be safe," The eldest she-cat meowed. "You are beyond the age of an apprentice, but will still train as one, with the name Novashadow." Coyotestar went on. "Novashadow! Novashadow!" A few cats cheered the name, but most cats stayed silent.

"Solar and Luna, you are not yet Six moons, so you will stay in the nursery with Fawnstripe and her kits." Coyotestar told the younger kits. Ivykit noticed the she-kit's neck fur bristle but remained silent. "Hold on, you can't expect Fawnstripe to watch four kits?" Foxfire spoke up. "I can watch them." Stormshadow offered. "What about your warrior duties?" Coyotestar asked. "Why do you think I've been spending so much time in the nursery?" Stormshadow purred in amusement, "I'm expecting kits you mouse-brain!" "Who's the father?" Pinefrost, a young warrior asked excited. "Me." Foxfire purred. "Congrats!" Brightflame purred. "Wait wait wait!" Emmapaw pushed into the clearing, "Mom?" "Emma?" Novashadow purred and ran over to lick the healer apprentice. "Coyotestar! This is my mother!" Emmapaw smiled at the leader. Ivykit remember that Emmapaw had been found in the tidal pools and that Coyotestar had raised the young she-cat. Coyotestar's tail flicked, was that jealousy in her eyes? Ivykit watched.

"That's great sister!" Foxfire licked Emmapaw's ear. "Oomph! Get off me you great lump!" Emmapaw purred and pulled away from him, "Mom, this is Foxfire, my brother!" "It's nice to meet you," Novashadow dipped her head and pointed to her kits, "The tom is Solar, and the she-cat is Luna." "Hi, you two!" Emmapaw greeted the kits. "What's wrong with your eyes" Solar asked. "Oh, my eyes are crossed, it means I see double of everything!" Emmapaw responded. Ivykit and Mousekit ran over, "Hi! I'm Ivykit and this is my brother, Mousekit!" "Salutations." Luna meowed. Ivykit blinked at her. Luna frowned, "Hi." "oh! Hi!" Mousekit smiled at her. Shadowpaw, Aloepaw, and Tinypaw came over next. "Hi!" Aloepaw purred, her gaze flicked towards Emmapaw who returned it. "Hi!" Tinypaw meowed sternly, brushing against Aloepaw, who jumped startled, "I'm Tinypaw, this is Aloepaw, and that cat who normally sulks in the dark is Shadowpaw." "I do not!" Shadowpaw protested. "Be nice" Aloepaw frowned.

"He does look like he does some sulking." Luna snorted. Shadowpaw seemed to shrink back. "Hey! Stop it!" Ivykit hissed, "we're clanmates! We're nice to each other!" "Like Fawnstripe and Mudstone are nice to each other," One of the cats growled, Ivykit ignored them and went on. "We're loyal to each other and we stand up for one another! We follow a code, without it we'd be nothing but a group of rouges." Ivykit meowed. "I show you 'rouges!'" Luna hissed and lunged at Ivykit knocking her over. Ivykit gasped in pain as Luna's claws raked over her shoulder. "Luna!" Novashadow grasped her kit firmly in her jaws and heaved her off Ivykit, "Enough!" Then dragged her away to the other side of the clearing where there wasn't a lot of cats. Ivykit craned her ears to listen to what Novashadow was saying. "Must be careful, we can't give ourselves away. They'll kill us!" Novashadow hissed at her kit quietly. "I'm not so sure about that, Ivykit said that they had a code," Luna snorted.

"We can't be sure of that." Novashadow meowed warily, then noticed Ivykit watching them and turned away, "Behave yourself!" She scolded her kit loudly. "Okay mama" Luna nodded. "Now off you go." Novashadow purred and bent down to lick her kit. Ivykit turned away, Novashadow sounded like she knew something, was planning something. She turned to the others but they didn't seem to notice, Tinypaw was showing Mousekit and Solar the hunters crouch. Aloepaw and Emmapaw were no where to be seen. Ivykit looked back at Novashadow who was now washing her paws, that she-cat was up to something, and Ivykit was determined to find out what.